


Sideslip

by CodenameEternity, xRaeAsakurax



Series: Idiots In Love [2]
Category: The Transformers (Cartoon Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Air Raid being Air Raid, Angst, Background Relationships, Bonding, Canon-Typical Violence, Crack, Dom/sub, Fluff, M/M, Poor Prowl, Pranks, Sideswipe being Sideswipe, Smut, Snowball Fight, Sticky Sexual Interfacing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:48:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 62,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25074121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CodenameEternity/pseuds/CodenameEternity, https://archiveofourown.org/users/xRaeAsakurax/pseuds/xRaeAsakurax
Summary: Sideswipe can only watch as Sunstreaker is swept off his pedes by an enthusiastic Fireflight, starting to branch out away from his twin. Sideswipe supports him every step of the way - anything to make his other half happy - but can't help but wonder what he's going to do now.And then Air Raid gets involved.Primus help him.
Relationships: Air Raid/Sideswipe (Transformers)
Series: Idiots In Love [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1815895
Kudos: 5





	1. Collision Course

**Author's Note:**

> This was the other crack ship moment in my in progress story and the other half of where my brain ran with Flights of Fancy. It's not necessary to read that first but I'd recommend it as they kind of run parallel to each other.
> 
> As ever much love to my beta for writing half of this... whatever this is lol
> 
> Enjoy!

Sideswipe couldn’t imagine not being bonded. It was so incredibly freeing to know that there was someone who would always be there, who understood what you needed, wanted or had to a purely instinctive degree, someone who knew you and accepted you on every level possible. He couldn’t imagine his life without Sunstreaker, loved him with every bolt of his being, and he knew his twin felt exactly the same. They were inseparable.

Which is why when the Aerialbots were first introduced to the rest of the Autobots Sideswipe was pretty sure he and Sunstreaker were the only ones who could truly understand, because as soon as they saw the Aerials they knew the mechs were bonded. It was subtle, the tells, if one didn’t know what they were looking for, but the twins realized immediately. 

For the most part the Aerialbots were welcomed into their little ragtag army, a lot of mechs relieved to have some extra aerial support, but there were some detractors, especially right at the start when they were clearly still not sure of themselves or their place. They struggled at first, and didn’t exactly make themselves overly amenable to most, but they were so very very young.

The twins watched them. Not obsessively so, but they kept an optic on the young flyers and observed their growth from newsparked mechs, making mistakes and unsure of who or what they were, to a strong practiced team, confident in their abilities, dynamics and personalities.

While the twins hadn’t gone out of their way to interact with the Aerials (they knew their reputation and were sure the flyers did as well) they had come into contact with all the members at various points, and along with their observations it was easy to discern their natures. It did sadden the twins knowing that the only reason the Aerialbots had come into existence was because of the war, and war would be all they’d know from the moment they were sparked, and it was for both that reason and respect for their bond that Sideswipe and Sunstreaker kept their distance, unwilling to force the ‘spawns of Unicron’ on the Aerialbots who might not take too kindly to it, particularly after hearing about what the two of them were like.

Tracks was a heavy advocate that the Aerialbots weren’t ‘real’ mechs due to the fact they were sparked directly into adult bodies and not created like the rest of them, but then he thought that about the Dinobots too and not many paid him much heed. Those that did were loud, though, and the twins could see the flinches of hurt and anger and disappointment in the Aerials’ wings whenever the whispers reached them. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker knew that feeling all too well too. Twins used to be considered a bad omen and a lot of mechs still held that belief, and while they could shrug the comments and accusations off now only because they were so utterly used to it the Aerials hadn’t been around long enough for that.

And frankly if those mechs couldn’t see Silverbolt’s dependable patience, Slingshot’s impassioned vitality, Air Raid’s mischievous loyalty, Skydive’s steadfast calm or Fireflight’s natural empathy then really, who needed them? It was mechs like them that helped bring about the civil war in the first place, and Sideswipe felt that they shouldn’t have anything to do with the aftermath of the war unless they changed their views.

Still, in lieu of outright disdain, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were perfectly happy simply co-existing with the Aerialbots.

  
  


-x-

  
  


It was honestly hilarious. He knew Sunstreaker wasn’t the most social of mechs and that cues sometimes passed him by unless Sideswipe nudged him, but this was a little ridiculous and the red twin was having the time of his life.

Even before Fireflight had initially come up to Sunstreaker in the rec room, all curiosity and wide optics at the rough sketch of Praxus, Sideswipe had watched the young flyer observing his brother like a mechahawk. Definitely more than a passing interest. Once Sideswipe had noticed this he’d kept a very close optic of his own on Fireflight, knowing the Aerial’s flighty nature and changing interests, but over time that gaze had never wavered, never got less intense or assessing, nor had it ever slid to anyone else. Sunstreaker was a very good-looking mech, Sideswipe knew that very well (however deliberate an act it was on his brother’s part), but most others only took enough time to appreciate or imagine and then went back to whatever they’d been doing before.

This was different.

When Sideswipe teased his twin about all the little gifts that Fireflight had been bringing him being courting gifts he hadn’t really been joking. It was a real concentrated effort on Fireflight’s part, the trinkets and crafts carefully chosen as he learned more and more about Sunstreaker, and it was exactly the steps of a standard courting ritual on Cybertron.

Not that many mechs used the ritual, honestly. It was a relic from a much more ancient time, but some liked tradition and it was a tradition that Sideswipe himself found rather charming. It showed how much the potential partner actually knew or understood and it was a good way of weeding the idiots out. Sideswipe should know, he’d weeded a few idiots out that way. Still, how Fireflight found out about it he wasn’t sure, maybe the info was on Teletraan somewhere or in their archives, but watching him court his oblivious twin was hilarious and adorable and he was sorely resisting the urge to smack Sunstreaker over the helm.

Especially since his brother didn’t seem to mind any of it at all. Most other suitors or partners had been treated with disdain at best, outright hostility at worst, but apparently Sunstreaker had a weakness for flyers that seemed to like crashing into things. It probably helped that they had a better idea of what the Aerialbots were like and their motivations and Fireflight seemed to know what Sunstreaker needed from him at any given time; idle chatter, actual conversation or just silence. He also wasn’t physical despite clearly being used to tactile comforts from the rest of his gestalt, something Sideswipe knew Sunstreaker really hated if he didn’t know the other mech.

As it was, Sideswipe appreciated that Fireflight seemed to have picked up a lot on how his twin worked and thought, evidenced by not only the gifts but the way he talked to Sunstreaker and moved around him. Some mechs unconsciously puffed up or straightened or got defensive when talking to either of the twins, and in return the two of them instinctively responded with force, though whether it was physical or verbal depended on the situation. There was none of that with Fireflight, he wore himself openly in all of his body language and reactions. He wasn’t subconsciously challenging or submitting just because Sunstreaker was bigger or stronger. It was refreshing and nice to see, especially when he could feel Sunstreaker slowly unwinding around the young flyer.

Thus, giving Fireflight the benefit of the doubt, Sideswipe spent a lot of time teasing his twin and supporting him in equal measure. Admittedly it felt odd that Sunstreaker was accepting the advances of someone who wasn’t looking to get both of them, but frankly whether the twins got together with the same mech or not Sideswipe truly didn’t care as long as Sunstreaker was happy with his choice.

Getting Sunstreaker to recognize he was making a choice, however, _that_ was a challenge, albeit a hilarious one.

And okay, yes, maybe Sideswipe was a little jealous that Sunstreaker held the attention of a mech who, by all accounts, was attentive and cared, but that was neither here nor there. As long as they weren’t separated Sideswipe himself was perfectly content.

  
  


-x-

  
  


Sideswipe didn’t know where time went sometimes, he truly didn’t. Last he’d checked it was only early evening, but what had started as a simple competition between brothers as to which character was better (everyone knew Kirby was the best Smash character, why Sunstreaker insisted it was Princess Peach he would never understand) had ended up in a tournament after Jazz came in and decided to join in the fun, Bumblebee declared he’d play the winner, Bluestreak managed to talk his way into a few games as Lucario and even Wheeljack had stepped in to have a go. It had kind of avalanched from there, and the next thing Sideswipe knew it was very, very, very late and he had a shift the next morning.

So late that most mechs were in recharge and it was only the skeleton crew on duty. So when Sideswipe walked past the entrance to the communal washracks and heard a muffled curse from behind the door he paused, curious. Who would be having a wash at this time of night?

Silently sliding the door open he stepped inside, keeping his pedefalls light and quiet, and found the target in the second stall, reaching up towards one of the jet spray heads. One was already on the side wall next to him, unscrewed and with what looked like a dye of some kind wiped on the inside of it, and Sideswipe immediately cottoned on with a growing grin. He leaned up against one of the other stalls to watch for a moment before speaking up in a lazy drawl.

“I admire your commitment to this prank of yours, Air Raid, but there’s a far easier way to go about it that’s much less likely to get you caught.”

Air Raid froze mid-motion before dropping his hand and casually turning around. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“‘Course you don’t,” Sideswipe snorted, pushing himself off the wall and coming over, picking up the jet nozzle. “So you’re not taking these jets off and filling them with...” he dipped a digit into the nozzle and lifted it back out again. “Bright green dye? Please, I’m the prankster king, pull the other one.”

“Yeah, go on then prankster king. How would you do this without getting caught then?” Air Raid folded his arms over his chest.

Sideswipe’s grin turned a little devious then. “Put that back, bring your dye and follow me,” he said. “First lesson in pranking, always take the path of least resistance.”

Air Raid tilted his head slightly, clearly contemplating the truth in Sideswipe’s words and whether to trust him. After a moment he put both jet spray heads back and subspaced his dye. “I’m willing to listen but the pay out better be good.”

“I’m offended you think my pranks would be anything but.” Sideswipe made a ‘follow me’ gesture and left the washracks, pausing only to make sure Air Raid was actually following before leading them both down a series of corridors. It was a slightly longer way around to where Sideswipe was taking them, but he grinned as after waving to a couple of cameras they stopped watching the two mechs nearly as much. When they reached the corridor he wanted he held them both until the camera around the corner turned away, and promptly darted to one of the doors, punched in a code and slipped inside, Air Raid right behind him.

“Lesson two, plausible deniability. Anybody asks, I couldn’t recharge, found you taking a late-night wash and we were discussing Jet Judo.” With that Sideswipe pointed at a very very large metal tank a little further into the room. “And here we are.”

“Silverbolt says we’re meant to own up to our actions,” Air Raid commented absently, inspecting the tank. He walked over to it and rapped it with his knuckles. “Let me guess, this feeds the washracks?”

“Got it in one,” Sideswipe said with a wink. “And you only own up if you get caught. Don’t get caught and no one has to know.” Sideswipe came up to the tank and hopped up onto one of the nearby stacks of crates, leaning over and squeaking something for a few seconds before dropping back down again and gesturing upwards. “This saves so much time and guarantees every single washrack will get a good dose of dye. You’re far less likely to get caught too.”

“That means you can’t tell anyone then,” Air Raid protested. “How will anyone know you’ve pulled off something so brilliant otherwise?”

“The point of a really good prank, my young padawan, is not to brag about it but to watch the chaos as it unfolds and soak in the knowledge that you made the chaos happen. Mechs will be looking for someone to blame, you make sure that mech isn’t you and you have the added bonus of all that glorious suspicious confusion sprinkled on top. Trust me.” Sideswipe leaned back on a nearby pole and crossed his arms over his head. “You’ll get far more satisfaction from not getting caught and being able to watch everything play out than you would if you bragged and immediately got hauled off for extra duty or brig time.”

Air Raid scowled slightly but boosted himself up to the top of the tank with far more ease than Sideswipe did, merely based on the fact that he could fly. He straddled the tank and pulled the dye out of subspace. “So how do I get this in there then?”

“Just pour it all into that hatch I opened. Feeds right into the tank’s main line. It won’t dye the water right away so mechs might get halfway through a wash before the dye actually starts coming out,” Sideswipe replied. “Should be that little door just to the left of your knees.”

Air Raid located the hatch and carefully poured the dye in, making sure not to get any on his digits or on the rest of the tank. “You know, I was going to do this yesterday but ‘Flight said I wasn’t allowed because Sunstreaker had first shift and ‘Flight said I wasn’t allowed to dye him green. I thought it’d be funny.”

“Sunny would have ripped his way through half the Ark looking for whoever did it, so that was probably a smart move,” replied Sideswipe sagely. “If there’s one thing that’ll set him off it’s a ruined paintjob.” He pushed off the pole and came over to the tank once more. “Can you see how it closes?”

“I think so,” Air Raid said, fiddling with the cover. “‘Flight’d still like him regardless.”

“I know, but Sunny’s really really particular about how he looks.” Sideswipe watched Air Raid as a grin turned his lips upwards. “I have to admit I’m enjoying the show, it’s like my own personal little soap.”

Air Raid snorted. “Yeah, tell me about it. You’re not bonded to someone who hasn’t shut up about Sunstreaker for months. It’s not got any better since he tried talking to him.” The flyer lifted his leg over the tank and slid off the side, landing neatly on his pedes.

“No,” admitted Sideswipe, laughing, “but I am bonded to pretty and clueless. I’m timing him to see how long it takes him to twig.”

“Well ‘Flight’s not going to give up soon but he is wondering when Sunstreaker will actually say something,” Air Raid admitted. “‘Shot keeps telling him he’s being led on because he’s an absent daydreamer, and who would want to be courted by him.”

“No, it’s literally because my brother’s an idiot and doesn’t think Fireflight knows that what he’s doing actually construes as a courting ritual. I put the idea in his head though, and honestly it keeps going round and round in his mind when it’s not occupied with other things.” Sideswipe moved to the door and silently opened it, peeking out at the camera down the hall to see when it moved. “He won’t be saying ‘no’ though, I can tell you that now.”

Air Raid smirked. “I’m not saying a word.” He came up behind Sideswipe, waiting on his signal. “What do you say to energon tomorrow morning so we can watch everyone come in a new and exciting color?”

Sideswipe was silent for a moment, and then both of them dashed out of the room as soon as the camera was turned and down into a different corridor, where they slowed to a walk and Sideswipe’s whole demeanor became very nonchalant. “Think that would be an excellent idea, young padawan. It’s always good to enjoy the fruits of one’s labor.”

“And at some point we should actually talk about Jet Judo to back up your alibi,” Air Raid pointed out. “As all I know about it is watching you throw yourselves at Seekers and ‘Bolt saying no.”

“Oh there’s a lot more to it than that. We developed it because of how short the Autobots were on aerial support. There’s a lot of timings and calculations involved, and understanding the way your opponent flies is important. Like, Skywarp will teleport out of the way if he knows you’re coming, but gets tunnel vision if something distracts him. TC’s always on the lookout for both ground and air attacks, but keeps forgetting that we can attack him from on top of his own teammates. Starscream’s too arrogant, he’s easy.” Sideswipe gestured to Air Raid’s wings. “And then you have to know how flight frames work in order to bring someone down, there’s no time to experiment when you’re getting rolled off or shot at. I have to factor in fuel too, and where Sunny’s going to be at any given time as to what we can or can’t pull off.”

Air Raid was staring at Sideswipe. “And Silverbolt says we can’t play with you. I think you need to have a talk with him.” He grinned suddenly. “So you reckon you know a lot about flight frames then?”

“I reckon I’ve got a good knowledge of them, yeah,” Sideswipe shrugged. “I’ve got my hands on more than my fair share.” He tapped at himself and gave Air Raid a wry grin. “I’ll admit, I have a cheat system too, since one of our creators was a flyer. It’s why my jetpack works so seamlessly with my systems.”

“Yeah, I bet you have,” Air Raid laughed before looking at Sideswipe for a moment. “What’s that like? Having creators? Vector Sigma gave us some understanding of it but it’s vague.”

Sideswipe let a slight grimace show on his face. “I’m probably not the best mech to ask, our creators weren’t exactly... good. They didn’t want twins, and we paid the price. Honestly, I think we would rather have had Vector Sigma for ours.”

“Why not? I mean, I’ve heard all the slag floating around about bad luck and whatever, but where’d that even come from?” Air Raid threw his hand out to the side. “It’s not like you can help where you came from anymore than we can.”

“I’m not sure, to be honest. I think it’s because mechs view split sparks as unnatural, a freak of nature that should never have occurred. We’re... complicated. We’re separate entities, by and large, but we still share a spark, still have to merge regularly to maintain ourselves, and one will often influence the other if we feel strongly about something. We’re not as stable emotionally as a standard sparked mech either.” Sideswipe sighed and put his hands on his hips. “Lotta folks used to think we were bad luck. We got blamed by some for the war having gone on as long as it has. Wish more thought like you.”

Air Raid snorted. “And I was created by rebuilding another plane into a Cybertronian and then getting a giant sentient ball of yellow energy to give it life, according to what someone wanted to fill a place in a war.” He shook his head, pushing his thoughts away. “You seem just as emotionally stable as the rest of us.”

“Oh don’t worry,” Sideswipe laughed, “I’m just as bipolar as Sunny, it just takes more to set me off. And if it helps any, I consider you as Cybertronian as the rest of us. So does the Sunbot.”

“Yeah, like we haven’t seen Cliffjumper go off on one, or Bluestreak freak out,” Air Raid replied, glancing across at Sideswipe. “I’m not stupid. I know not everyone does and I really don’t care. I’ve got my brothers. I’m not alone.”

“It’s not so much that as it is...” Sideswipe paused. “We either do extreme emotions or barely any at all. There’s not really an in-between. It’s hard to describe, but we aren’t totally stable.” The red mech tipped his helm back a little, watching the ceiling go past as they walked. “Have to admit, I’m glad you were bonded. Can’t imagine just being thrown into something like this without a bond to fall back on.”

“I guess we’re a bit like you, always have been bonded, don’t know anything else,” Air Raid considered. “So you feel strongly. Nothing wrong with that either.”

“Never understood those who think bonding is scary.” Sideswipe looked back down and tipped his head at Air Raid. “It’s more than that too, but yeah, we do. We feel strongly. That’s why you’d know if Sunny didn’t want Fireflight’s courting.”

“Well it kinda is, especially now. It’d be so easy to lose someone,” Air Raid admitted.

“True, but personally I’d rather live a shorter life bonded than a long life alone. Besides, the life expectancy of a frontliner isn’t all that great, I’m honestly surprised Sunny and I have lasted this long.” Sideswipe winked and preened a little. “I guess we’re just that good.”

There was a flash of different emotions across Air Raid’s face. He clearly didn’t like the reminder that death hovered just around the corner, even as another part of him clearly agreed with Sideswipe. He took the easy way out, laughing. “Yeah, you’re alright for old mechs I suppose.”

“Hey, I’ll have you know that until you lot came along the only mech younger than us was Bluestreak,” Sideswipe retorted, but he laid a hand on Air Raid’s shoulder. “I have faith we’ll all survive this, and in the meantime we just keep pulling pranks.” He slowed as he reached his and Sunny’s quarters. “Bright and early, young padawan, and prepare for the laughs.”

“Ergh, it better be good to get up when I don’t have a shift,” Air Raid muttered before looking across at Sideswipe. “You can’t tell you know, at least not for us lot, probably because even if you are one of the youngest you’re still way, way older. I mean I know we came out as adults and everything but I don’t think Vector Sigma knows what that means exactly.”

“You lot are definitely a special case,” Sideswipe mused, “but on the other hand I think the amount of growing you’ve done since then has been pretty staggering. Sunny and I respect that a lot.”

“Yeah we’re not complete slagafts now,” Air Raid said, tone light but there was clear meaning behind it. “Well, except maybe ‘Shot.”

“I’m not judging,” replied Sideswipe mildly, “be a bit hypocritical of me if I did. But that’s what growth is, and mechs who don’t understand that need their heads examined.” He keyed in the code to his door. “Get some recharge, ‘Raid, and I’ll see you in the morning for some of the best energon.”

“I’m going to hold you to that,” Air Raid promised before heading off to his own quarters. “And then maybe I’ll see what other ideas you’ve got.”

Sideswipe watched the flyer go with a grin before ducking into his room. Sunstreaker was already in the berth, recharging on his front as ever, and only woke up briefly to berate him for coming back so late before tucking himself under Sideswipe’s chin and falling straight back into recharge. Lulled by his twin’s systems and looking forward to the morning Sideswipe followed very quickly after.

Sure enough when Sideswipe woke up early the next morning and made his way quietly to the rec room, leaving his brother recharging peacefully, Air Raid came in not too long later, grabbed himself a cube and they sat together at one of the tables slightly further back from the doors. The Aerial looked sleepy at first, but the moment Perceptor walked in splashed thoroughly in bright green dye and seemed to not notice in the slightest he and Sideswipe exchanged a look and then promptly tried to stifle their laughter into their energon. It only got worse thanks to the delay Sideswipe had given the dye, so by the time it started to shower out of the jets it had managed to catch about eight different mechs. Green was absolutely not Bumblebee’s color, the frontliner decided through silent laughter, though he seemed to take it in good humor, and Bluestreak seemed to rather enjoy the splatters of green across his gray paint. Huffer, if at all possible, was even more cranky than usual, and Ratchet commed him not too long later to ask if he had anything to do with the fact that Hoist was drenched head to pede and not looking at all perturbed by it.

Sideswipe, of course, denied everything.

It didn’t stop with the initial mechs though, as word didn’t get around quite quickly enough, and over the course of the next hour and a half before the dye finished working its way through the tank and the jets at least ten more were seen looking thoroughly disgruntled by their new color scheme and bitching about it to any mech who would stand still longer than five seconds.

By the time Blaster made an appearance, the bright green rather striking and completely out of place with the rest of his color scheme, Sideswipe and Air Raid could barely sit up properly from laughing too hard. They were far from the only ones either, a lot of the mechs who hadn’t been caught up in the debacle were in the rec room enjoying the show, so they weren’t exactly suspicious sniggering in their little corner.

Of course the immediate reaction was to blame Sideswipe for the whole thing, but as the cameras had caught him on a late-night stroll with Air Raid and the flyer himself said that they’d got caught up in talking about Jet Judo there wasn’t enough evidence to pin it on anybody so both mechs got away scott-free.

“And that,” Sideswipe said later when they were outside the Ark and away from any prying audials, breathless with laughter and optics bright, “is how you pull it off. Nice job!”

“It wouldn’t have been half as good without your idea,” Air Raid told him, grin wide and wings twitching with suppressed laughter. “Count me in for anything you want to do.”

“Excellent, I’ve always wanted an apprentice. Stick with me, young padawan, you’ll go far,” Sideswipe declared dramatically, putting an arm around Air Raid’s shoulders. “Another lesson for you then. Never do pranks back to back, leave some down time to get mechs back into a false sense of security and let their paranoia decrease. Instead use that time to plan something else. Now, I have an idea for some of the chairs in the rec room...”

  
  


-x-

  
  


Sideswipe genuinely wasn’t sure whether his twin was just messing with him or not in payback for the constant teasing about Fireflight. Sunstreaker was doing a very good job if he was, and an infuriating one if he wasn’t. There were plenty of mechs on the Ark that Sideswipe would take to berth if he was so inclined, but there were so many reasons for so many bots as to why he wouldn’t that there wasn’t much point. A lot of it was out of principle, the way they treated him, his twin and others, and to that end Sideswipe couldn’t for the life of him (assuming Sunstreaker was even telling him the truth) work out who actually liked him like that.

It was arrogant even for him to simply go around asking about it, and the only mech he normally went to besides Sunstreaker would likely just call him a moron in that fond, exasperated way of his and tell him to work it out for himself. Gotta love Ratchet, Sideswipe mused.

It was, however, what led him to be sat in a back corner table of the rec room, for once still and unobtrusive, with a half drunk cube of energon in front of him and narrowed, keen optics scanning every mech in the room. It was very busy, that time of day where everyone seemed to be off shift at once and congregating in the rec room like they had nothing better to do. He was so absorbed in his mech-watching and musings that he didn’t notice someone sit down opposite him at the table until a wing twitched into view, and he blinked for several seconds at the newcomer.

“Oh, hey ‘Raid. What are you doing here?”

Air Raid shrugged. “On down time and I’m not getting involved with whatever Skydive is trying to persuade Slingshot to do with his rifle right now. You look like you’re trying to read processors from a distance.”

“Close,” Sideswipe snorted. “Trying to work out whether Sunny’s messing with me or not.”

That got a laugh out of Air Raid. “He’s your _brother_. What are the odds he’s not?” The flyer poked Sideswipe’s arm. “What’d he say that you don’t believe?”

“He doesn’t normally, is the thing, he messes with me a lot less than you’d think. But considering the amount of grief I’ve given him about Fireflight I strongly suspect he’s getting some revenge.” Sideswipe put his elbow on the table and then sat his chin in his palm. “He told me I have a ‘secret admirer’ or something like that, so I’m trying to work out if that’s true or not.”

Air Raid let out a loud gigglesnort at that, covering his mouth with one hand before attempting to school his features into a more serious expression. “Sounds awful. Do you need a hand with that?”

“Don’t laugh at me,” Sideswipe pouted, “I already have a brother for that. He certainly doesn’t need your help.” The red mech eyed Air Raid for a moment. “I don’t know what you could do to help to be honest. Especially not if it’s a Sunny prank.”

“But if he’s not…” Air Raid started before gesturing around the room. “We could discuss the merits of individual members of the stunning Autobot forces and see if anyone takes your fancy.”

“Primus, good luck with that,” Sideswipe laughed. “There’s a reason I don’t sleep around. But alright, I’ll play your game.”

“Yeah but that’ll make things easier won’t it? Like if you don’t like whoever your secret admirer is then it doesn’t matter anyway, does it?” Air Raid pointed out. “But if you do, if they ever say anything, then you already know that you’d consider it.”

“I think I can count on one hand the number of mechs I’d consider. That said I’m not above a little payback of my own and it would be fun to see if I can suss out who it is if Sunny’s not pulling my leg.” Sideswipe looked back out at the crowded rec room. “First victim then.”

Air Raid looked round the room and then burst into giggles. “I think I already know the answer but I’ve got to say it. Brawn. He’s so strong,” Air Raid cooed, leaning into Sideswipe, wings twitching with laughter.

Sideswipe shoved him away with a vaguely incredulous look. “Seriously? Twerp couldn’t lift a feather in a breeze.”

Air Raid laughed harder. “Oh I see, so small and strong isn’t your type then. Ok, how about…” The flyer cast around the room and started sniggering again, clearly finding it great entertainment. “Grapple!”

“Too moody,” said Sideswipe instantly. “Besides, he and Hoist are basically attached.”

“True,” Air Raid conceded. “Alright, so not moody…. Blaster.”

“He’s actually one of the mechs I’d consider,” admitted Sideswipe with a grin, “but I can’t say I’m looking to adopt. He’s got too many kids for me. Decent mech though, knows how to party.”

“Would you want your own then? Later?” Air Raid asked, laughter subsiding slightly as curiosity reared its head.

“Not specifically, but I wouldn’t complain if sparklings came along,” Sideswipe shrugged. “Besides, I don’t even know if I could have any. I think I’d need Sunny’s help for that.” He eyed Air Raid, grin growing slightly. “I’d love to see you lot around sparklings, I think it’d be really cute watching you all flail at them.”

Air Raid pulled a face, having never thought about it before. His gaze suddenly went distant before he snorted loudly. “‘Flight says if Sunstreaker wants them, he’s alright with you being involved and that’s more than I wanted to know.” He gave Sideswipe a sideways look. “Fireflight.”

“Tell your brother to stop listening in, it’s rude,” Sideswipe sniggered. He thought for a moment, then shook his helm. “Ignoring that he’s taken now, I like a more rebellious or risky personality. We wouldn’t mesh well as a couple, though the wings are a plus.”

“Well the wings kind of limit your choices then don’t they?” Air Raid pointed out and then pointed a digit at Sideswipe. “I will never talk to you again if Powerglide is on your list.”

“I said they were a plus, not a dealbreaker,” retorted Sideswipe, looking appropriately offended. “He most definitely isn’t, and neither is Seaspray. Or Cosmos.” He paused. “Or Tracks.”

“So rebellious and risky then,” Air Raid looked thoughtful then sniggered. “Cliffjumper.”

“He,” sniffed Sideswipe, “isn’t rebellious or risky, he’s just an aft. And has no concept of ‘fun’.”

“Primus, rebellious, risky, sense of fun… you are really limiting your choices you know,” Air Raid leant back in his seat. “Jazz.”

Sideswipe’s optics turned back to Air Raid, amusement scrawled on his features. “Now you know why I haven’t berthed half the Ark. Ignoring that they like disparaging us, of course. Jazz is another on the list and I probably would be after him if I didn’t know that Prowl would have me thrown straight in the brig for even venting in his direction wrong. I think he’d be quite the ride.”

“What does Jazz even see in Prowl? I don’t get it,” Air Raid said, shaking his head. “Who else is on the infamously short list then?”

“Couple mechs from Cybertron,” said Sideswipe, holding up two digits. He lowered one. “Arcee. Brilliant fighter and liked corralling the more obnoxious mechs, but she was always down for some fun in her off hours. Remind me to tell you how we managed to steal over half of Kup’s habsuite items before he worked out who it was.” He lowered his other digit. “And another mech on her team, barely younger than Sunny and I called Hot Rod. He was a riot, and I think had a flashier paintjob than Sunny and Tracks combined. Last I heard they were both still alive, but that was before the Ark crashed so Primus knows where they are now.”

“I didn’t know there were any Autobots left on Cybertron,” Air Raid replied. “And they wouldn’t have been in stasis either. That’s a long time to think you’re alone.” He looked thoughtful. “So two more in your list you don’t even know are still alive. I’m not sure that counts. So that’s like, two, four if we’re being generous.”

“Yeah. Oh,” Sideswipe added, brightening a little,”Ratchet too. But he already said no.” The red mech shook his head a little. “I reckon my list would be a lot bigger if I didn’t care what they said, but while a lot of bots here are nice to me they’re certainly not to Sunny. Not behind his back, anyway. And out of principle I won’t berth anyone who puts my literal other half down like that.”

“No, I wouldn’t give anyone a chance if they didn’t like all of us either. I mean ‘Shot makes that really difficult because he’s such a jerk sometimes but…” Air Raid shrugged. “So, did that help?”

“I mean,” Sideswipe snorted, “you’ve helped work out that I’d say no to most of the Ark, so there’s that. Honestly I’ll probably just let it ride. They’ll reveal themselves sooner or later I’m sure if they do exist, and if they don’t then Sunny doesn’t get the satisfaction of seeing me get all tied up in knots over it.”

“And you entertained me too,” Air Raid grinned. “I’m so helpful.”

“You’re terrible,” Sideswipe groused, though it was without heat. “Go annoy Silverbolt or something.”

“Only if you promise to update me with any secret admirer news,” Air Raid said, leaning in closer with a wide grin.

“And if I don’t?”

“One word for you. Fireflight,” Air Raid smirked before rising to his pedes.

“You’re a horrible mech and I hope you crash into something,” Sideswipe retorted, watching him get up and tilting his helm, optics glinting. “Preferably Fireflight.”

“That’s ‘Flight’s department, not mine,'' Air Raid grinned. “See you around. Good luck with that mystery mech of yours.” He gave Sideswipe a little wave before sauntering off, making a big show of looking around the rec room and glancing back at Sideswipe with a look of amusement on his face. Sideswipe merely sent him a half-sparked glare before downing the rest of his energon and then clonking his helm onto the table in front of him. It was days like this he was sure Primus hated him.

  
  


-x-

  
  


Besides being the undisputed prankster king of the Ark Sideswipe was also one of the reigning gaming champions. That didn’t mean he couldn’t be beaten, far from it, but he won far more tournaments than he lost, and he always gave his all in matches even when they were just for fun. The Ark often held tournaments of all different kinds of games, ostensibly because it was a lot of fun to see the difference between Earth games and Cybertronian games, but everyone knew the unofficial reason was to stop mechs like Jazz and Sideswipe from causing too much chaos around the rest of the Ark in their boredom. The red twin might have been offended if he wasn’t perfectly aware of how much chaos he could cause in a single afternoon of tedium and how much it rankled command when he did. More specifically, rankled Prowl.

Super Smash was a huge favorite among the Autobots, as was Street Fighter. Mortal Kombat was a mixed bag; some loved it, some couldn’t stand the organic gore, so it wasn’t played nearly as much. Oddly enough Pong was also surprisingly popular for such a stupidly simply concept and - in Sideswipe’s opinion - rather slow gameplay, but he supposed that was pretty much why it was a common pick. Doom was also a frequent enough contender despite some mechs having the same problem with it as they did with Mortal Kombat.

The game of the week this time was one called Burnout. It was a racing game that Sideswipe thoroughly enjoyed and excelled at, the risk-taker in him often winning out against his opponents. He had his off-days, like anybody, but for racing games they were few and far between. The rules of the tournament were simple, and often the same for every game that got put up each week, exceptions made for the type of game that it was. Best of five, no cheats, no substitutions, no re-matches unless exceptional circumstances applied. Like a Decepticon attack halfway through or something.

With nothing better to do and going for an apparent easy win Sideswipe signed himself up for the tournament. From the random bracket draw his first opponent turned out to be Blaster, and the two of them had a good time nudging each other and trash-talking despite Sideswipe being by far the better driver, tossing the comms officer out of the running in three easy consecutive wins.

His next challenger was Smokescreen, having beaten out Skids in his first match, and while the Praxian was much better at the game than Blaster was, he still wasn’t quite enough to win against Sideswipe, who again stole three consecutive victories. Unfortunately for the frontliner Smokescreen refused to take a bet on who’d win between them, which disappointed Sideswipe as he thought having the extra credits would be handy for next time he decided to join in on a Praxus Hold-Em game.

Bluestreak followed Smokescreen, having gotten through his bracket pretty breezily as well, and this time it was more of a challenge. The younger mech won their first bout, though not without a little difficulty, and the next three matches he put up a very worthy fight, managing to knock Sideswipe into the walls and edges of the track several times, cackling with glee each time. Ultimately though he was also knocked out, and accepted his defeat with graceful aplomb and a promise that next time he’d win at least two games against Sideswipe.

The next mech in the bracket was a bit of a surprise. It was rare Air Raid got involved in the tournaments, despite playing a fair few games when they were on a casual basis in the rec room, so when the Aerial plopped himself down on the sofa next to Sideswipe and grinned at him, waggling his wings, the frontliner blinked at him a little.

“You finished your entire bracket so far? Nice.”

“I normally beat my brothers, so I thought I’d see what the rest of the Ark had to offer,” Air Raid replied, picking up his controller. “So far it’s not really been a challenge. Maybe you might be, but I have my doubts.”

“Big talk from a youngling,” Sideswipe retorted mildly. “Why don’t you put your controller where your mouth is?”

“Ready when you are old timer,” Air Raid shot back, grinning.

Sideswipe raised an optic ridge, but set the race up as per the rules of the tournament. They sat at the start waiting for the go, and then they were off.

Sideswipe was rather startled to find that actually, Air Raid was really very good at the game. It perhaps shouldn’t have been as much of a surprise as it was, what with Air Raid being about as much of a risk-taker as Sideswipe, but Sideswipe went from a more casual air to focused on what he was doing pretty quickly.

“Since when are _you_ good at driving?” Sideswipe snarked.

“Embarrassed that a flyer knows how to handle the road better than you?” Air Raid sniggered. “It’s far easier than flying.”

“Aww, the youngling wants to grow up into a ground-pounder. How cute.” Sideswipe’s car shoved Air Raid’s into an on-coming truck and then took a launch ramp to avoid a hole in the road.

“Slagger!” Air Raid swore, spinning his car in a handbrake turn to avoid a dead stop crash and just clipped the side of it instead. He boosted forward again and then smirked, drifting a corner into a shortcut he wouldn’t have made without Sideswipe’s ‘help’. “Thanks!”

“If you think that’s going to help you you’re sorely mistaken,” said Sideswipe, activating his burnout as he slipstreamed past a van.

Air Raid narrowed his optics but waited until they hit heavier traffic again and traffic checked a small car right at Sideswipe’s boot, gaining him boost for his meter before he pulled into oncoming traffic to ramp it up, hoping to chain his boost together and get well ahead. Sideswipe happily lived up to his name with several near misses while he was passing traffic, and then spent some time in the lane on the other side of the road, allowing the oncoming traffic to feed his boost. By the time Air Raid activated his Sideswipe was a fair way ahead and showing no signs of slowing. He kept flicking to his rear view every so often and as he dodged another taxi as he crossed the line into their second lap he nudged at the Aerial. “C’mon, show me what you got flybot.”

Air Raid spared him a split second glance and a challenging grin settled across his face. He got his chain boost and was on Sideswipe’s tail before long again. He deliberately set off a chain reaction set of collisions which he avoided by swinging right over to the far side of the road and just as he did so, his wing dropped forward enough to touch Sideswipe’s back before it was gone again.

Sideswipe felt it and knew what Air Raid was doing - he and Sunstreaker did it often enough when playing together - so he barely reacted, choosing instead to force the flyer between a truck and a barrier while knocking his thigh into Air Raid’s. He chained another boost up the road and around a corner, not letting off the brake, drifting happily.

Air Raid pushed back with his thigh, keeping the contact before he started jiggling his leg up and down. It was something that Slingshot _hated_ and it was worth a try with Sideswipe. Air Raid followed Sideswipe into the corner, tapping his brakes on the way in but then hitting the accelerator and drifted faster and harder. It was more risky but worth it as he flattened the side of his car into Sideswipe’s and pinned him into the barrier, sending up a shower of digital sparks. Sideswipe swore and placed his pede on top of Air Raid’s to stop him moving, tapping his brakes to get out from under the flyer’s car and onto the inside line. It lost him a little bit of time but not as much as he’d feared, so when Air Raid came out of the bend ahead Sideswipe was hot on his tailpipe. The Aerial crossed the line for lap two just in front of Sideswipe and whooped as they hurtled into the third and final lap.

The two of them carried on in much the same fashion, knocking each other both in-game and outside of it, trying to cause the other to make a mistake or lose focus. They changed positions often, and as much as they were shoving each other around it was clear they were having a lot of fun doing so. They were very closely matched and Sideswipe couldn’t remember the last time someone had been this in tune with him or willing to play a little bit rough.

In the end though Sideswipe’s car just pipped Air Raid’s over the line, and the frontliner did a brief victory jig in his seat while Air Raid threw a hand up with an exaggerated ‘boo’. Sideswipe knocked shoulders with the Aerial and grinned. “One of five,” he said happily. “Think you can keep this momentum up?”

Air Raid turned to face Sideswipe and leant in a little closer. “I let you have that, just so I didn’t trash you completely and leave you feeling hurt.”

“Uh-huh, sure you did. Face it, you just got Judo’d.”

“You beat me by a paint scrape. There was no skill in that. Pure luck.” Air Raid lifted a hand off the controller to poke Sideswipe.

“Yeah?” Sideswipe started setting up the next race. “Prove it then.”

Air Raid snorted. “You prove yours wasn’t a fluke.”

“I’m a reigning champ, newbie, I don’t have to prove anything to you.” The frontliner chose his racer and sat on the ready screen.

“That’s precisely why you have to prove it. You’re only champion because I’ve never taken part before.” Air Raid followed suit.

“Ha!” Sideswipe grinned as he pressed the start button to load them into their course. “Newbie here thinks he can just waltz right in and usurp me from my throne. You can try.”

Air Raid smirked. “You won’t know what hit you.” He wiggled his pede still under Sideswipe’s.

The frontliner’s grin was challenging, and the two of them set off into another very close run. They’d gathered quite a crowd at this point, both of mechs who were participating or who had been knocked and those that had nothing to do with the tournament but wanted to watch what was going on. Neither of them particularly noticed though, even when Smokescreen started a small betting pool as to who would ultimately be the winner of their rather intense match-up.

Air Raid winning the second race brought their scores up to a tied one-all, along with a barrage of smug comments from a rather playfully vicious glossa. Sideswipe was just as quick with his own quips though, and they entered their third match bickering happily. It was nice, Sideswipe decided, and even if he did lose he’d be perfectly fine with it after having had such close games.

The third race was his by a relative margin, mostly because Air Raid had activated his burnout on the final stretch with every intention of passing Sideswipe but mis-timed it and ended up crashing into a crossing tanker truck instead, allowing Sideswipe across the finish line before he’d even respawned.

Air Raid caught up again for the fourth race after he managed to shove Sideswipe’s car against barrier halfway through hard enough that the damage forced the frontliner into a respawn, and while he came close Sideswipe wasn’t quite able to catch back up again, and the flyer crossed the finish line with a mocking sing-song. Sideswipe about pushed him off the sofa in response, both of them cackling madly.

“Newbie’s got a little something,” allowed Sideswipe, “but you’ve got a ways to go before you can best the master, youngling.”

“A way to go, he says,” Air Raid resettling on the sofa, closer than before. “And it all comes down to one race.” He reached over to Sideswipe’s controller to try and select his vehicle for him. Automatically the frontliner leaned away, holding his controller over his head and sticking his glossa out at Air Raid.

“I let you get this far. And don’t be a sore loser,” Sideswipe said, grinning madly.

Air Raid lent further, pushing right up against Sideswipe, pretending to still reach for the controller. “Oh but I’m not a sore loser, because I don’t lose.”

“But you will.” Sideswipe brought his controller down on top of Air Raid’s helm and pushed at him. “Especially since you’re a dirty cheater too.”

Air Raid let himself get pushed away. “Mmm takes one to know one I think.” He regarded Sideswipe with a smirk. “You gonna make me lose? Make me see how it feels?”

“You started it,” Sideswipe retorted, quickly selecting his car before Air Raid could try again. “Stop stalling, flybot, and let’s go.”

Air Raid settled back down again, selecting his own ride and gesturing at the screen. “Come on then. It comes down to one race to hold your championship status.”

It was one of the most fun races Sideswipe had played in a long time. It wasn’t long before they were sitting practically hip-to-hip, leaning into each other and shoving each other and trying to make each other lose concentration or control, all the while throwing barbs back and forth. There were cheers in the background from the peanut gallery, some rooting for Sideswipe and some rooting for Air Raid, but they were mostly ignored or unheard by the two mechs on the sofa battling it out fiercely. Several groans rang out when Sideswipe lost control in a drift and smashed into a side wall, and many-a wince came from the speedier grounders when Air Raid affected a head-on collision with a bus that blew his car up rather nicely.

In the end however, experience won out, and Sideswipe crossed the finish line just over a second ahead of Air Raid, and he held his controller over his head in victory with one hand while he used the other to poke at Air Raid.

“Still the champion!” he sing-songed.

Air Raid laughed, willing to be a good sport about it. “So what does the champion want then?”

“A rematch,” said Sideswipe instantly, putting his controller down for the next pair in the tournament to take their places. “Street Fighter next time. You gave me a really good run for my credits there, I like having good competition.”

“Deal.” Air Raid gave up his controller and his seat. “Maybe we should work our way through everything and see who’s the ultimate champion.”

“You’re absolutely on,” Sideswipe said brightly, standing up with the flyer. “You gonna stick around and watch me whump the rest of the competition?”

Air Raid grinned. “Well I suppose I should. Should I cheer for you? Go from your best competition to your best supporter?”

“That’d certainly make our competition much more interesting. I’ll return the favor if you ever beat me in a tournament,” Sideswipe winked.

“ _When_ ,” Air Raid stressed. “After all you could only hand your crown over to someone who really deserved it.”

“ _If_ , my young padawan, _if_.”

  
  


-x-

  
  


Sideswipe considered himself pretty lucky as he skidded to a stop outside the Aerialbots’ quarters only to see his target just leaving, blinking at him in surprise. The frontliner grinned at Air Raid, optics glinting.

“You free?” he asked without preamble. “I’ve got an idea.”

“Well now I am,” Air Raid replied with a grin. “I do like your ideas.”

“Excellent!” Sideswipe tugged on the flyer’s arm back the way he’d come. “We need to stop off at mine first to grab some supplies, I’ll tell you my idea there.”

“Hmm supplies,” Air Raid said thoughtfully as he followed. “So something more elaborate then.”

“Yes and no,” Sideswipe hedged. “C’mon, you’ll see what I mean.”

They reached his and Sunstreaker’s quarters not long later, and the door opened to reveal the golden twin himself lounging across their berth with a holonovel in one hand. He took one look at the two of them and turned away so he had his back to them.

“I don’t want to know,” he said. “I’m deaf until you two frag off, I’m not getting involved.”

“That’s alright Sunny, we won’t be long,” replied Sideswipe cheerfully. He moved over to a nearby cupboard, rummaged around and then came back out with two tins of something that he held out to Air Raid. “Quick-dry contact glue,” he said proudly, “Prowl’s office door code and a whoooooole lot of furniture. You in?”

“In a massive way, yes,” Air Raid agreed enthusiastically, taking one tin.

“Right, let’s go then. Prowl’s out right now and should be out for a while, he’s in a meeting with Red Alert, but I don’t know how long for so we need to be quick.” He threw a wave over his shoulder to a twin who was paying neither of them any mind whatsoever and they left with their tins in subspace, hurrying down the corridors. They didn’t run, as they didn’t want to attract any attention to what they were doing, but their pace was brisk and to anyone else it would simply look like they were heading out somewhere. It didn’t take them long to reach Prowl’s office, and after glancing around to make sure they were alone Sideswipe punched in the code and the two of them slipped inside, shutting the door behind them.

Sideswipe rubbed his hands together gleefully. “Alright, sweet. Where do you wanna start?”

“We should flip everything upside down,” Air Raid said immediately.

“That’s a given,” Sideswipe said with a grin, “it’s all going on the ceiling. What pieces do you wanna start with?”

“I think we should do the big heavy stuff together first and see if we have time for the smaller stuff as well, but it should definitely be as perfect as we can get it, just to make him check his gyro and optics,” Air Raid replied, pulling his tin from subspace.

“That’s what I’m thinking.” Sideswipe moved to the most obvious and important piece of furniture first: Prowl’s desk. He took off all the datapads, keeping them in nice neat stacks but setting them down a little ways away from the desk, and then gestured to Air Raid to help him. Between them they managed to tip the desk upside down and shuffle it back into position, and both tins then popped open and they began smearing the bottom of the desk with the glue.

As soon as they were done Sideswipe pointed upwards; he hadn’t been kidding when he said it was fast-drying, and together they grabbed the edges of the desk, lifted it up and then boosted to the ceiling on Sideswipe’s count of ‘three’. They stayed there for a minute until they were certain the glue had stuck properly, and then they slowly let go and lowered themselves back down to the floor. Sideswipe threw his arms in the air, pleased as anything.

“It worked! Alright! Office chair next?”

Air Raid nodded, carefully checking how it was positioned before flipping it over for Sideswipe to glue. “If I hold it to the ceiling, do you want to start doing the stuff that goes on the desk or should we do the shelves? I was thinking if we glued everything to the shelves first, and then flipped the whole lot?”

“Would make it easier,” Sideswipe agreed. He started applying glue to the bottom of Prowl’s office chair, and when he was done made his way over to the stack of datapads he’d neatly placed aside earlier. He heard the flare of boosters igniting as Air Raid lifted to the ceiling to hold the chair in place and he began gluing the datapads together in order, still keeping everything perfectly tidy. As soon as he was done he glued them to the desk on the ceiling and dropped to the floor to admire the view. “I’m already getting confused,” he told Air Raid. “Right, shelves next.”

Air Raid dropped back down next to him and carefully started lifting things off the shelves for Sideswipe to glue. “Where’d you even get this stuff? Seems like the sort of thing they’d keep locked away from the likes of us.”

“Made it,” said Sideswipe a little absently as he started to glue things together. “Just bought the ingredients from the humans, they’re seriously cheap and easy to get hold of. Don’t think they’ve discovered this particular combo yet.”

There was a pause as Air Raid stared at Sideswipe before he shook himself and went back to hold things up for Sideswipe. “Feel like sharing the recipe?”

“Perhaps. Maybe as your graduation present,” Sideswipe said, mirth coloring his tone as he glanced over his shoulder at Air Raid.

“Uh huh,” Air Raid smiled. “When’s that?”

“I’ll let you know, young padawan.”

There was silence for a few more moments as Sideswipe finished gluing the pads and files and the replaceable ornaments into place on both sets of shelves, leaving off the ones he knew or guessed were actually important or had meaning, and stepped back with most of them in his arms - the rest in Air Raid’s - to admire their work. They set their armfuls down neatly in the shadowy corner near the door and then between them they started to tip the shelves upside-down and glue them in preparation for sticking to the ceiling. “Honestly, it’s easy enough,” Sideswipe added as they prepared to lift one of the shelves up. “I got the recipe from one of my buyers back on Cybertron a long time ago. He was a regular and really consistent with his orders, so eventually I got curious and asked what he was doing. He told me and shared how to make it. Never asked what he needed the glue for, though.”

“If he was ordering the stuff for it that regularly, that's a lot of glue,” Air Raid commented as he joined Sideswipe on the other side of the shelf. “How much redecorating was he doing?”

“I have no idea and frankly I wasn’t about to ask. Anyone who needs that much of this slag is someone to be feared,” Sideswipe replied sagely. Again on his count the two of them lifted the shelf to the ceiling, held it there until they were sure it was stuck in place, and then repeated themselves on the second set of shelves.

This one however was a little heavier, and Sideswipe overestimated the thrust on his jetpack a little and smacked lightly into the ceiling. Pouting at it and rubbing the top of his helm, causing Air Raid to start cracking up, he thumped his forearm against the ceiling in mock revenge.

Then promptly discovered the ceiling wouldn’t let go.

As Air Raid drifted down to the ground again Sideswipe tugged ineffectually a couple of times at his arm and then groaned.

“Fraggit.”

“Sideswipe?” Air Raid asked from the floor, looking up at him with a frown.

“So,” he said almost conversationally, “turns out this stuff is strong enough to stick even me to the ceiling. Who’d’ve thought?”

There was a pause and then Air Raid was hovering back alongside Sideswipe, peering at his arm. “Want me to pull or is that just going to damage something?”

“The ceiling, probably. Only way to get this stuff to dissolve quickly is nitric acid. I wouldn’t touch me, you might get stuck to me and that would just be embarrassing.” Sideswipe used his other hand to rummage around in his subspace. “Slag, forgot it. I’ll get Sunny to bring a bottle.”

“Well I’m going to have to,” Air Raid pointed out. “Sunstreaker can’t get up here and there’s no way for you to get the right angle to get all of your arm.”

“At least wait for the acid so you can get yourself out too.”

Air Raid sniggered. “What, don’t wanna get stuck to me? Should I be offended? Maybe I should stick myself to you in a compromising place for when Sunstreaker walks in.”

“Oh, what, like he’s never done that before,” Sideswipe retorted, grinning. “You wanna get stuck to me and then have to wait for Sunstreaker and/or Prowl that’s fine by me, young padawan, just don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Air Raid sniggered again. “How did you even get glue on your arm to begin with?” He did a slow, inspecting circle around Sideswipe. “If it’s strong enough to stick the desk to the ceiling, even I’ve been careful and I'm never careful.”

“I have no idea. Sheer dumb luck, probably.” Sideswipe gentled his jetpack blast. “Sunny’s on his way, very begrudgingly.”

“I’m surprised he’s coming at all. My lot would leave me hanging,” Air Raid replied, before coming in closer. “ I can take your weight if you want.”

“He would do, but he has to listen to me bitch the entire time so he’d rather save himself the processor ache.” Sideswipe shook his head. “Nah, my pack’s good. Thanks though.”

“My lot would too. Would still leave me here saying it serves me right,” Air Raid replied. “It feels odd just leaving you hanging but should I continue?”

“Yeah, sure, I-” Sideswipe was interrupted by the door to Prowl’s office cycling open and he threw his arm out to his side. “There you are Sunshine! C’mon, toss ‘Raid the acid then you can bail.”

“What,” came a rather icy tone from the doorway that was distinctly _not_ Sunstreaker’s, “is going on here?”

Sideswipe turned a startled gaze down to where Prowl was stood in his doorway, wings wide and optics narrow. “Slag.”

“Redecorating?” Air Raid supplied, shrugging and creeping a little closer to Sideswipe.

“Redecorating,” Prowl repeated flatly. “Ignoring that, how did you even get in here?”

“Smokey,” said Sideswipe nonchalantly from the ceiling. “He needs to learn to be more circumspect.”

“I see.” The SIC glared at both mechs. “Air Raid, you’re going to wait here until Ironhide arrives to escort you to the brig. Sideswipe, Ratchet is on his way to work out how to get you down from there and then you’ll be going as well. Both of you will stay there until I decide what to do with you.”

“No need for Ratchet,” Sideswipe replied cheerfully, “Sunny’s on his way with what I need coz I forgot it in my room. And before you ask, no, he wasn’t involved.”

“I’d like to stay until Sideswipe is down, please,” Air Raid said quietly. “I’m not objecting to the brig time.”

Prowl stared at him with unreadable optics. “Fine,” he said eventually, “Ironhide will take you both down together.”

“You forget your own slag and then you go and get caught,” came Sunstreaker’s annoyed, exasperated tones just behind Prowl as he stepped up to the doorway. “You’re really not worth it sometimes, I swear.” Prowl moved aside to let Sunstreaker in, but the golden frontliner simply tossed the bottle he was holding at Air Raid and turned on his heel. “I’m not getting him down.”

“Love you too!” Sideswipe called after him as Sunstreaker’s pedesteps faded back down the hall.

Air Raid came in closer to Sideswipe, bottle in hand. “So how does this work? Soak it or does a few drops work? Is it bad for your plating?”

“Oh it’s bad for the plating,” Sideswipe said, “but it’s the only thing I’ve found that gets it off. Just use pipette that’s in there to add a few drop to my arm, the acid will do the rest.”

“I don’t want to hurt you,” Air Raid replied uncertainly, fishing the pipette out carefully.

“You won’t. Trust me, ‘Raid.”

“Alright,” Air Raid said dubiously. He hovered over closer and very, very carefully added a few drops as close to the glue as he could get it. Sideswipe gave no outward signs of discomfort as they waited and watched the acid eat through the glue at a fair rate of knots. It chewed up a little bit of the red armor underneath as well, but all said the damage was very minimal by the time Sideswipe was able to pull his arm free of the ceiling and drift down to the floor. He ex-vented and grinned as he touched down, apparently not at all quelled by the look Prowl was giving him.

“We were hoping Red would keep you longer boss, not gonna lie,” he said. “Would have been a masterpiece.”

“I have long since learned to deal with Red Alert,” Prowl said stiffly. “Just as I have long since learned to deal with you. Give me the acid.” He held out his hand expectantly.

Air Raid handed it over, glancing at Sideswipe. He had subspaced his glue when it had become apparent that Sideswipe had stuck himself to the ceiling and was wondering whether he should voluntarily give it up. He was well aware subspace pockets were searched and emptied before going into the brig. Sideswipe answered the question for him when he added his own pot of the glue to Prowl’s outstretched hand next to the acid without fuss.

“Careful with the glue, bossmech, it’s a real doozy to get off,” Sideswipe warned sagely, earning himself a glare as Ironhide appeared in the doorway. The weapons specialist stopped short at the sight of half of Prowl’s office stuck to the ceiling and after admiring it for a minute he put his hands on his hips.

“Never sure how ya manage this kinda slag,” he told Sideswipe, who bowed dramatically in response.

“Take them to the brig and keep guard,” Prowl said sharply, growing more annoyed by the second if the twitching doorwings were anything to go by.

Air Raid handed over his glue as well, sticking close to Sideswipe. It wasn’t that he was afraid of Prowl, or time in the brig, but he was a hundred percent sure he was going to take everything in equal measure alongside Sideswipe. Silverbolt had impressed the idea of dealing with your slag and not letting someone else do it for you enough times. He did however grin at Ironhide. “Imagine what we could have done with more time.”

“I ain’t even gonna try,” he returned dryly. “Git, both o’ ya.”

Sideswipe obediently moved ahead of Ironhide, touching Air Raid’s arm to bring him with, and the three of them set off down to the cells. Jazz joined them briefly partway to congratulate them on a prank so nearly pulled off and the execution, at which point Ironhide shooed the saboteur away, and Sideswipe and Air Raid exchanged an amused look before they were unceremoniously shoved into a cell together a few minutes later. Ironhide locked the door, shook his head at them and then headed back to the entrance of the brig. The frontliner started laughing as soon as Ironhide could no longer be seen.

“Did you see Prowl’s face?” he cackled. “That was worth _everything_.”

Air Raid grinned. “Yours was pretty good too, when he started speaking.” He reached out and took Sideswipe’s arm, digits tracing around the edges of the burn marks. “You sure you’re alright?”

“Yeah, can’t say I was expecting him,” Sideswipe admitted easily. He watched Air Raid touch the damage on his arm and nodded. “I’ve had worse falling out of berth in the morning.”

Air Raid let go, reassured. “So…” He made his way over to the berth and sprawled over it. “Come here often?”

Sideswipe snorted, laughing again. “You’re awful. Probably about as often as you.”

“Are you calling me a delinquent?” Air Raid looked affronted. “Some chat up line!”

“Well, it takes one to know one, so...” Sideswipe leaned back against one of the walls and raised an optic ridge. “And you agreed to help me.”

“I agreed to help the King of Pranks pull off something really cool. Instead you got stuck to the ceiling and we’re in the brig.” Air Raid smirked. “I was led astray and now I’m missing this amazing ending.”

“Next lesson; sometimes you’ll get caught.” Sideswipe pursed his lips as his optics glowed in suppressed amusement. “Own it when you do.”

“I’m here aren’t I?” Air Raid returned, gesturing around the cell.

“So you are.” Sideswipe studied the Aerial. “I wasn’t expecting you to stick around, honestly, I was all ready to take the fall.”

“No way.” Air Raid scowled at him. “You own up to what you’ve done. Silverbolt has drummed _that_ one into us enough and you’re a friend aren’t you? Some slagging friend I’d be if I ran out at the first sign of trouble.”

Sideswipe raised his hands placatingly, drawing a pede back to brace against the wall. “I’m not saying it wasn’t - isn’t - appreciated, just unexpected.”

“Well I hope it won’t be in the future,” Air Raid commented.

“Nope.” Sideswipe dropped his hands to his hips. “I’ll be dragging you down with me every time now.”

“Drag away,” Air Raid smiled. He shuffled down the berth a little. “Want a seat?”

“As we await our inevitable doom by the hands of a pissed-off second-in-command?” Sideswipe paused, then pushed himself off the wall and flopped down onto the berth next to Air Raid. “Sure, why not.”

“So… come here often?” Air Raid sniggered. “How do you pass the time?”

“Re-using lines is cheating,” Sideswipe laughed. “And most of the time I’m in the bond with Sunny. Either chilling and watching what he does or just talking if we’re in together. He does the same.”

“Oh, well, I won’t stop you doing that if you want,” Air Raid replied, wings dropping a little.

“ _Most_ of the time. You didn’t think I was gonna leave you out here bored out of your processors, did you ‘Raid?”

The flyer shrugged. “I know he’s important to you. I’m not going to get in the way of that and doesn’t he want an apology anyway?”

Sideswipe snorted. “‘Raid, I can be with my twin anytime I want to. And he’s never asked for an apology off of me for doing my own stupid slag.” Sideswipe paused for a minute, thinking. “Actually,” he added, “I don’t think Sunny’s ever asked for an apology about anything or from anyone. We weren’t exactly raised to expect them.”

“Just cause you don’t ask doesn’t mean you can’t want them,” Air Raid replied. “We’re not very good with them either. I hope if you ever need one from me I… well I hope I do better than I normally do.”

“Something else we have in common then,” Sideswipe mused. “I suspect you’ll be forgiven right away regardless, I’m not the type to hold grudges unless it’s well deserved.”

Air Raid smiled, one side of his mouth curling up. “Maybe you don’t hold grudges, but you don’t exactly forgive either. I’ve seen what you’re like with the Minis.”

“Those slaggers deserve it. It’s one thing to make a mistake and not do it again or fix it, but they’re just constant about it. Mistake after mistake after intentional mistake. That I don’t forgive.”

“So if I’m not too much of an idiot, you’ll forgive me,” Air Raid summarized.

“As long as you don’t repeatedly be an idiot that brings either of us down,” Sideswipe corrected mildly. “I’m a lot more laid back than most mechs think, I just have a short fuse.”

Air Raid flashed him a grin before it faded as he stared out at the door. “I hope I haven’t done anything like that then.”

“Trust me, you’d know. You’re still growing and learning, making mistakes is part of that. I’m not holding those against you at all, any of you. In case it’s escaped your notice,” Sideswipe added a little wryly, “Sunny and I really like you.”

“Really? The fact that Sunstreaker is fragging one of my brothers had completely escaped my notice,” Air Raid snarked back.

“Then you should be safe in the knowledge that Sunny wouldn’t be doing that and we wouldn’t be sitting here if you had been,” Sideswipe said, sounding satisfied. “Don’t second-guess yourself.”

Air Raid snorted. “You know what the others think of us. We’ve got a lot of slag to make up for.”

“And what they think of us.” Sideswipe shrugged, sliding down the wall a little and slouching into the berth. “Like I said, you’re growing. It’s what happens when you don’t go from sparkling to adult.”

“We’ve got something like it but no, probably not,” Air Raid agreed, slouching down alongside Sideswipe and poking him. “I thought you said I wouldn’t be bored.”

“You saying I’m a bad conversationalist?”

“You’re alright,” Air Raid hedged, wings twitching in swallowed mirth. Sideswipe sniffed in faux offense.

“Well maybe I should leave you here then,” he said, poking Air Raid back.

“What you gonna do? Break out?” 

“In a sense. Sunny counts.” Sideswipe stuck his glossa out at the Aerial.

“So you’re going back on your word then?” Air Raid raised an optic ridge.

“Well, I mean, if I’m _boring_ you with all the conversation...”

“You said you wouldn’t. I count that as a promise.”

Sideswipe sighed dramatically. “Well, I suppose if I _must_.”

  
  


-x-

  
  


Sideswipe always forgot just how much he hated being laid up in the Medbay. Yes Ratchet would yell at them and tell them how it was all their fault and they should know better, but Sideswipe was perfectly aware most of that was just bluster to hide how worried the medic had been. There was a difference between going looking for the injuries and getting them by accident. Devastator had absolutely been an accident. The two of them might be utterly gung-ho and seemingly uncaring of their own lives but even they were wary of taking on an entire gestalt without at least some backup. And it wasn’t like they specifically went looking for trouble. Nor, as some mechs apparently believed, did they _like_ pain. Just because they could take it didn’t mean they wanted to.

The red twin sighed and his helm fell back onto his medical berth. He was still missing his arm and most of his back panels, though that couldn’t really be seen, and he hurt despite the pain blockers. Sunstreaker was in recharge next to him, one leg now reattached and some of his armor repaired but still looking much the worse for wear, and Sideswipe reached out with his only good hand to take his twin’s and interlace their digits if only to distract himself from his discomfort. Sunstreaker shifted a little in his recharge to face him, unconsciously tightening the hand that held Sideswipe’s, and the red twin smiled softly.

He could readily admit to some jealousy on his part for how easily Sunstreaker and Fireflight seemed to fit with each other, how close they’d gotten in such a short period of time, but only in that he wanted something like it for himself. He was incredibly pleased his brother seemed to have found someone who really saw him as Sideswipe did, and proud of Sunstreaker for opening up like he had. That took ball-bearings for someone like Sunstreaker and it seemed to have paid off.

That being said, Air Raid’s little revelation from a few days ago was still rattling around inside Sideswipe’s head. Fireflight had been in the Medbay every day so far, curling up to Sunstreaker when he could and sitting himself neatly next to the yellow frontliner when he couldn’t, and Air Raid had joined him every single time. Leaving the two lovebirds to chat quietly to themselves, Air Raid’s attention towards Sideswipe had definitely helped ease the boredom and monotony of the Medbay. There was only so much one could do to annoy the Hatchet whilst stuck horizontal on a berth, and Ratchet was immune to most of it by now anyway.

The question Sideswipe had was whether Air Raid actually genuinely liked him or whether he was just looking for something a lot more short term. Sideswipe absolutely wouldn’t say ‘no’ if that was all Air Raid wanted, but it seemed like a lot of effort on the flyer’s part if that was the case.

Sideswipe also wondered how long Air Raid was laughing at him after their chat in the rec room about potential “secret admirers”. On the one hand it was now a hundred percent confirmed that Sunstreaker only told him so he could wind his twin up as revenge, but on the other he wasn’t sure how to feel knowing Air Raid was probably laughing at him but also maybe a little put out that he hadn’t made Sideswipe’s ‘list’.

That was a thought for a day when he was whole and hale once more, he decided, and began to forcibly shut his own systems down into low power mode so he could fall into recharge alongside his twin.

Another seven days went by in a similar fashion, each twin slowly being rebuilt as parts were fixed and armor put back together. Perhaps it was a good thing that when Ratchet signed them out for light duties it was before visiting hours, because the only thing either of them wanted to do was merge and they probably would have blown Fireflight and Air Raid off entirely had they been there. Sideswipe wasn’t sure how well that would have gone over with either of them.

Regardless their merge was exactly what they both needed, soothing and centering and harmonizing, only them and them only, thoughts and feelings and questions and more flickering between them with no source or rhyme or reason. How it should always be, Sideswipe thought. It was during this merge that he shared his speculations on Air Raid and what he wanted, and Sunstreaker immediately responded with encouragement, sure that there was something more to it from what Fireflight had been saying. That was what sealed the deal for Sideswipe on finding out more and soon, and a wordless rush of love between them had them relaxing even more into each other before suddenly Sunstreaker froze, metaphysical optics wide and startled.

: _Sunshine?_ :

: _I love him_ ,: was the rather faint reply.

Ah.

Sideswipe grinned then, amusement threading its way into Sunstreaker’s shock and helping to disperse it. : _What was your first clue?_ :

: _I didn’t... not until just now and we... Sides_...:

: _Then tell him,_ : said Sideswipe succinctly. : _I can almost guarantee he’ll say the same_.:

: _Should I?_ :

: _Yes_.:

: _Oh_.: Sunstreaker was silent for a long time, mulling it over. Sideswipe let his twin use him as a silent sounding board, rolling through the internal debates and emotions that went by in a flash, staying only long enough to register they were there before a new one took its place. : _I can do that_ ,: he concluded eventually.

: _Good. Proud of you_ ,: Sideswipe murmured, and smiled as his twin swelled slightly at the compliment.

Primus knew how long they were there for, but eventually they were interrupted by Fireflight and Sunstreaker only swelled further with pride at _me-us-we_ when Fireflight held nothing but awe in his voice and body and tone at the sight of the twins in their most natural and base form. Eventually Sideswipe ended the merge with a kiss to his brother’s helm, and he left the room to let the lovers get reacquainted with a much more buoyant step in his pedes.

He didn’t really pay attention to where he was going, only that he found himself outside the Ark in late morning sunshine not too long later, and he stretched languidly in it as he felt struts realign and the pull of fresh welds. Debating for a moment he eventually decided to find somewhere to relax, lay out and enjoy the warmth of the day, and with that thought in mind he transformed and left the Ark for a nearby national park.

It took him a fair bit of effort once he got there between the humans who recognized him and the care he took trying not to destroy the surrounding wilderness or scare everything off by just using his jetpack, but eventually he did manage to get to the top of the highest rock outcropping of the park, one that was in clear line of the sun and had rather beautiful views over the rest of the park. Flopping down onto his front he stretched out and rested his helm on crossed arms, and for a long time he lay there and soaked up the sun and the silence and dozed.

It was almost cold when a shadow eventually loomed over him, blocking out the sun, and the red twin made a very disgruntled noise into his arms as he brought himself out of his blissful doze.

“If you’re a Decepticon, frag off. I can’t be bothered fighting right now and I will kill you if you carry on interrupting me,” he grumbled unceremoniously.

“So if I went and stood not in the way, can I carry on admiring the view?” Air Raid asked, amusement clear in his tone.

“Long as you’re not blocking my sunbathing you can do whatever you like,” Sideswipe replied, humming happily when the shadow vanished and warmth struck him once more.

Air Raid settled down next to him, legs stretching out beside Sideswipe. “Whatever huh?” A surprisingly gentle hand landed on the back of the frontliner’s lower leg. “You’re all good now?”

“Light duty for a while so the welds have time to heal up properly, but otherwise I’m in perfect health. And with a perfect paintjob thanks to certain narcissistic brothers.” Sideswipe’s engine rumbled gently and a slight smile appeared on his lips, buried in his arms. “He’s too... preoccupied to come with me and sunbathe.”

Air Raid snorted. “Oh yeah, I am well aware who and what he’s preoccupied with.” The hand started drifting backwards and forwards. Air Raid wasn’t looking at the scenery either. “Not that I mind the stellar finish, especially given what happened, but I’d like you regardless.”

“Yeah?” Sideswipe stayed still for another couple of minutes, then slowly lifted himself onto his elbows and turned his helm to look over his shoulder at Air Raid. “What are you looking for, I wonder? Are you just wanting a berth warmer, or do you want something more?”

Air Raid raised his optics but didn’t still his hand. “I’m not ‘Flight. He kinda goes in with everything he’s got. He fell for Sunstreaker fast and hard and I’m not saying he’s wrong but I’m not like that. I don’t trust as easily.” He chewed at his lip for a moment. “I’m not saying I know what’s going to happen but I’d like to try for something more than a good frag when the itch strikes.”

Sideswipe studied Air Raid for a moment, searching, then nodded as though he’d found what he was looking for. “That sounds good,” he replied, smiling gently. “I’ll follow your lead then, you can take this at your own pace in your own time so we can get to know each other better. Sound good?”

“Yeah but…” Air Raid frowned. “Look, I know what I come across like: stupid, reckless, rash and, yeah, I am, but…” He lifted his gaze to the skyline on the horizon. “Don’t make me make all the decisions. I want this to be a two way street and I have some personal stuff I want to share with you that I think you’ll have to push for. I’m not ashamed of it,” Air Raid added suddenly, optics back on Sideswipe’s face. “But, yeah, not into voicing feelings and all that slag like ‘Flight can.”

Sideswipe groaned and sat up a little more, enough to turn and face Air Raid better but not enough to dislodge the hand he was rather enjoying on his legs. “That didn’t come out right,” he said, pursing his lips. “I’d like to see where this goes, you and I. I’m interested, I like you. What I’m saying is if you think we’re going too fast, say so. If you want more, tell me. I’ll do the same. Thing is, I’ve had hundreds of years to understand myself and what I like and what I want. You haven’t had that luxury, and something you thought you might want could turn out to be something you don’t, or vice-versa. That’s all.” The red mech reached out to touch the arm nearest to him. “We work together, yeah?”

Air Raid nodded. “Yeah, yeah I’m good with that.” A grin curled one side of his mouth up. “We might be pretty young, out here, walking around, but we came from Vector Sigma with something like memories and experience. That’s why ‘Bolt’s afraid of heights. He remembers being a low level shuttle before. We got more than that in there, wherever there is. Some of those things I’m pretty sure I know I want.”

“You’ve got somewhere to start from then, that’s good,” replied Sideswipe with a wink. “We’ll just have to build on that and see where we go. Now, with that in mind, what are things you definitely _don’t_ like, so I can avoid those?”

“Early mornings, practice drills,” Air Raid said promptly before grinning. “Getting caught doing something I shouldn’t be doing.” The smile faltered slightly. “Someone touching my back or wings without asking. I mean when I trust someone, that’s fine, but if someone’s that close, I can’t turn around to see without bashing my wings. Oh, and being underground. The Ark is _horrible_.”

“Tell me about it,” Sideswipe groaned. “Give me this any day. Alright, so no sneaking up behind you without asking and no waking you up in the mornings for a pillow fight. Gotcha.” He seemed to think for a moment. “I don’t think there’s much I don’t like to be honest aside from the obvious. Enclosed spaces, bots messing with my jetpack and being an aft about Sunny for no reason. I mean, when he’s being an aft then I have no problems with it. Because he can be and he is.”

“Him and ‘Shot both then,” Air Raid grinned. “And I don’t know, I could be woken up early for a good reason, a very good reason. I mean, if you’re already in there…” Air Raid’s hand drifted up to Sideswipe’s knee joint.

Sideswipe made an approving humming noise. “I’ll be honest, I hate early mornings probably as much as you do, so it’d be more likely a late morning pillow fight. Or, y’know, whatever kind of wake up call it might happen to be.”

“Mmm I’m interested in this idea,” Air Raid commented, touch becoming a little firmer, digits trailing from knee to ankle joint and back again. “I’m glad you’re alright.”

“So am I,” Sideswipe murmured vehemently. “I did not enjoy being Devastator’s punching bag.” He twisted back around and lowered his helm to his arms again. “Feels good, ‘Raid, thanks.”

Air Raid glanced up at Sideswipe as he settled back down, a small smile on his face. He shifted round onto knees to be able to reach with his other hand which he placed on Sideswipe’s back, still keeping his touch gentle and started the same movements there as well.

“You’ve got a nice touch,” sighed Sideswipe happily, engine idly purring. “Do you do this for your bondmates sometimes? Or are you just a natural?”

“Only if they are very, very lucky,” Air Raid commented. “And when someone gets hurt.” The hands stilled for a moment before he started up again. “And why can’t I be both? I could be a complete natural who has practice too. I could always practice more on you, just to make sure.”

“For all I know you are. Either way I will be perfectly happy to be your practice dummy should you ever need one,” Sideswipe said, stretching again briefly.

Air Raid made a pleased noise, digits going to the sections Sideswipe stretched and concentrated there instead, digging into the seams a little. “Not necessarily how I pictured getting to touch you for the first time but I am not objecting.”

Sideswipe groaned contentedly, relaxing under Air Raid’s ministrations, pliant and happy. “Yeah? Do tell.”

“Well, I’m a slagaft, so I always thought I’d wind you up so much that you would have enough of it,” Air Raid said easily, hands still working. “And shut me up. How, well, that changes depending on how I’m feeling and whether I’ve seen you around recently, doing things that you have no idea how much they make me hot.”

“Sounds to me,” Sideswipe purred, “like you _want_ me to shut you up.” He grinned into his arms. “Get you all hot and bothered, do I?”

Air Raid’s digits dug in a little more and he ex-vented a little harder than usual. “I said I knew I wanted some things and you do. Some things I shouldn’t, you’re not even trying.”

“Then I foresee a lot of teasing in your future once I know what gets you running,” replied Sideswipe, laughter coloring his tone. “I think I’ll like reading those wings of yours across the room.”

Air Raid leant down lower, adding a little more pressure. “Yeah, I remember you saying you liked wings. Want to tell me why now?”

“You mean besides my love of flying?” was the slightly wry answer, but a brief shrug followed. “It’s no secret really. I've always been fascinated that wings have a language all their own and can express things in ways words can’t. I like the way they look and move and I like how sensitive they are. Though, I hear it’s a bitch if you walk into anything.”

“Yeah a little bit,” Air Raid admitted. There was a pause and the flyer leant right down to Sideswipe’s audial. “I’ll let you find out how sensitive.”

The faintest of shivers ran through the frontliner then, before he turned his head to the side to lock optics with Air Raid, smile widening. “Yeah? I think I’d like that a lot. Be fun to just play with them, find all those little spots.”

“Any time you want,” Air Raid said lowly. “But I’m pretty sure that _won’t_ shut me up though.”

“Maybe I want to hear you. Maybe I’d like to hear everything.”

“Well we said we’re a team right?” Air Raid smiled widely. “You tell me you want to hear me, I can do that.”

“I look forward to every sound,” mused Sideswipe, bringing his crossed hand up so he could reach to touch at Air Raid’s face gently. “To every little thing your wings are going to tell me.”

Air Raid leant into the hand slightly. “So do I.” He pushed at the open seams around Sideswipe’s shoulder, being careful with the one that had been damaged. “Now, you going to be fair and tell me something you like?”

Sideswipe shuddered and went limp again with an appreciative noise. “Helm horns,” he murmured. “They’re sensitive and I like mechs playing with them. And... maybe a little weird, but I like using the washracks with someone I trust. Not necessarily for anything more than washing either, I just like the intimacy.”

Air Raid glanced up at Sideswipe’s horns with a grin. “It’s not weird. I’d like that too. I mean, I won’t object to other things in the washracks either, but I will try to hold myself back.”

“Oh I most definitely wouldn’t either,” Sideswipe admitted shamelessly, “but sometimes it’s just the closeness. I think Sunny and I are about as tactile as you and yours are, we like touch among friends and loved ones.”

“Touch away,” Air Raid told him before snorting lightly. “No wonder ‘Flight likes Sunstreaker so much. Someone else who will let him cling.”

“Proof he really really likes Fireflight,” Sideswipe agreed. “Until him I was the only one he’d ever let cling like that.”

“I’m not clingy, not like that, but I’ll admit I like contact,” Air Raid said. “And I’m not shy about it either.”

“Whatever you need whenever you need it,” Sideswipe offered, shifting, pleased, under Air Raid’s massage. “You’re really, really good at this.”

Air Raid looked very smug at that. “What are the Ark rules about PDA again?”

“Don’t know, don’t care. We’re not on the Ark right now, but we might traumatize some humans come to see the pretty sights.”

“Oh I don’t know, I’m looking at a very pretty sight right now,” Air Raid commented, hands drifting again, slipping lower down Sideswipe’s back and sides. Sideswipe arched into the touches a little and let his engine rumble quietly, lips turning upwards.

“Bet I’m not as pretty as the one giving that compliment.”

“From what I can see right now, what I can hear, what I’m touching, I might have to argue that,” Air Raid returned. “Anywhere else that needs attention?”

“Mostly it’s my shoulder that aches, where it was torn off from,” Sideswipe said, muffled into his arms a little. “Thanks Air Raid, this is really nice.”

Air Raid considered Sideswipe’s shoulder for a moment before shuffling closer to his head. One knee nestled in against his side, the other by his hand so he was straddling Sideswipe’s bent arm and he could properly lean down over his shoulder to get more pressure into the seams and over the plates. Sideswipe groaned lowly as the firm presses and sure motions dug into his frame, easing tension and knots and chasing away the ache little by little. He buried his face into his other arm as Air Raid worked. And he thought _he_ was good at massages.

“Gonna have to give you one of my massages,” mumbled Sideswipe, his plating flexing and shifting accommodatingly to Air Raid. “Repay you for this one.”

“I’ll hold you to that,” Air Raid promised. “Not sure you’re taking in the pretty view anymore though.”

“You’re here,” said Sideswipe simply.

Air Raid’s digits tightened on Sideswipe’s plating briefly. “Yeah, we’re gonna be good.”

  
  


-x-

  
  


If you asked anyone on the Ark to describe Sideswipe in one word, the last thing they’d probably say was ‘slow’, or ‘patient’. He could be both when the situation called for it, but the situation rarely did and therefore ‘slow’ and ‘patient’ was never going to cut it.

It was nice to take things step by step though, and actually take the time to look before he leaped. Already there were whispers and rumors about the two Pit-spawned gladiators each having taken up with a different one of the Aerialbots and really, Sideswipe couldn’t help but chuckle at that. Honestly, what did they think the twins were going to do, corrupt the young flyers into the cult of Unicron?

Much more secure in his relationship with Fireflight now Sunstreaker actually found some of the rumors pretty funny, where once they would have set him off on a rampage looking for whoever started them. Sideswipe had always found them entertaining and he knew Air Raid did as well; they’d spent enough mornings over energon now teasing each other over whatever the latest gossip was and hamming it up to ridiculous proportions. Of course there were still those who thought one or the other could do better, but in Sideswipe’s opinion there wasn’t anyone better so they could shove that up their tailpipes and light it.

Sideswipe had been intending to invite Air Raid to the rec room movie night that night but couldn’t find the Aerialbot anywhere. Eventually Silverbolt took pity on him and told him that Air Raid was somewhere down near command, though what he was doing there and why Silverbolt didn’t want to know.

Plausible deniability, Sideswipe assumed. Sensible mech.

The frontliner was expecting to have to rescue Air Raid from Prowl’s evil clutches or something as he made his way down the corridors towards the offices, but that turned out not to be the case when the flyer himself came belting around a corner, cackling madly, and ran straight towards Sideswipe.

“Woah, ‘Raid, where’s the fire?” Sideswipe asked, even as his arm was snagged by Air Raid in a tight grip.

“Run! Run! You’re an accomplice now!” Air Raid tugged at Sideswipe, already moving past him. Sideswipe could only follow with a startled laugh, stumbling briefly before keeping pace with the Aerial as they charged their way down the corridors.

“Accomplice? What did you do? Do I want to know what you did?” the frontliner asked a little breathlessly.

“You’ll be proud, I swear. It was just too good an opportunity,” Air Raid said, still laughing. “Where can we hide? I’ll tell you when we’re not running down a corridor!”

Sideswipe immediately took the lead, leading them down a couple more hallways until he reached a door where he promptly wrenched it open and practically shoved them both inside. He shut the door behind them and flicked a small switch nearby so a single, feeble light blinked into life in the ceiling to reveal a small storage area, packed with boxes and hold-alls and supplies. He grinned and put his hands on his hips, turning to face Air Raid.

“Alright, spill. What am I an accomplice to?”

“It’s officer meeting time right?” Air Raid started, still breathless, full of laughter, wings twitching. “So there’s no one in Medbay right now cause I know the Protectobots are out in their other base. I might have got all of Ratchet’s hand tools out and wrapped them in foil.” He grinned madly, clearly pleased with himself.

Sideswipe started cackling then, clapping his hands once in approval. “Now that’s what I’m talking about,” he cheered. “I like that one a lot. Oh, if only I could see his face when he comes back and finds everything foiled...”

Air Raid giggled. “He might have already found them. I heard shouting, that’s why I was running. It was just too good not to do it.” He bounced a little, wings sweeping back and knocking things off the shelf behind him and cackled louder.

“You made me into an accomplice while being chased by the Hatchet? You little slagaft,” Sideswipe said, feigning outrage and smacking Air Raid in the chest gently. “You dare.”

“I learnt from the best didn’t I?” Air Raid pointed out, poking Sideswipe back.

“I have taught you too well, young padawan,” Sideswipe mused, amusement dancing in his optics. “Fair warning, this place is a stop-gap measure at best, Hatchet’s relentless.”

“You’ll look after me won’t you?” Air Raid said, trying for innocence but still giggling too much. He laid a hand flat over Sideswipe’s chest. “Save me from the wrath.”

“Against Ratchet? Mmm, I’m not sure I like you _that_ much,” teased Sideswipe, prodding the flyer. “I might just have to cut my losses and run.”

“You’re implicated now,” Air Raid laughed. “We’re a team remember?” He knocked another box from the shelf with the sweep of a wing and it thumped to the floor.

Sideswipe made a grab for and caught a second box that fell almost immediately after, leaning across the flyer with an amused huff. He put it back on its shelf and tweaked a wing gently in admonishment. “You keep knocking things off with your gorgeous wings and we’ll be caught even sooner,” he said in a stage whisper, optics bright. “Honestly, some mechs.”

Air Raid shivered. “It’s not my fault you chose the smallest cupboard on the Ark to hide in. You know I have wings.” His second hand landed on Sideswipe’s hip.

“And they’re beautiful, but you’re the one who decided to piss off the Hatchet and then drag me into it. This is what they call ‘guilt by association’.” Sideswipe gave Air Raid a cheeky grin, but it slowly began to fall as he realized properly for the first time where they were and how close they were. The storage room wasn’t really built for two mechs. He hesitated, then leaned forwards a little more. “I’m a bad influence on you,” he murmured quietly. “‘Raid, can I...?”

“Frag yes,” Air Raid hissed. He tilted his head slightly to one side, pushing closer until his chest met Sideswipe’s and their faces were barely an inch apart. “I want you to.”

Sideswipe closed the last little gap with one, then two chaste and short kisses, then pressed his lips properly to Air Raid’s on the third one, bringing one hand from where it hadn’t really left the flyer’s wing up and across the top of it until he could cup Air Raid’s face, thumb tracing across one cheek.

The hand on Sideswipe’s hip clenched a little tighter and Air Raid wrapped the other around Sideswipe’s shoulders to keep them pressed together from chest to crotch. His wing shivered under the touch and Air Raid opened his mouth, glossa flicking out in teasing invitation, a low noise accompanying it. Sideswipe took immediate advantage, pressing into Air Raid even more as his glossa took up the invitation and started to thoroughly explore Air Raid’s mouth, teasing and playing in equal measure even as Sideswipe’s other hand wrapped around Air Raid’s waist, keeping him in place and running digits across armor seams.

“Gorgeous,” he murmured after a moment, biting on Air Raid’s bottom lip.

The flyer whined quietly, “Don’t stop.” He pulled Sideswipe’s head back to his to deepen the kiss again even as he dragged him the half step back until his back hit the shelf. The hand on Sideswipe’s hip trailed upwards to wrap around his back. From somewhere Air Raid seemed to remember what he’d been told as he shifted his grip on Sideswipe’s helm so he could toy with one horn. The red mech moaned and rewarded the touch by leaning heavily into it, surging back into the kiss deeper, more demanding and more fierce. He felt like he could quite happily drown in Air Raid’s lips and the clever digits playing around his horn even as he pushed a leg in between Air Raid’s thighs and the hand around the flyer’s waist moved up just enough to start toying with the edges of a slat, half in retaliation and half because he just wanted to get lost in everything Air Raid.

Air Raid yielded to the kiss, willing and pliant to the demands, a groan working its way out of his mouth. He couldn’t stop the jerk of his hips when Sideswipe started on the slat, grinding over the white thigh between his. Deliberately he tightened his grip on the horn, testing the seams and just what Sideswipe liked. The frontliner hissed in pleasure, pressing his thigh just that little bit more into Air Raid and tilting his helm not only into the digits toying with his horn but also the kiss. He alternated between sweet and chaste and deep and dirty and was just tugging on a slat when the door of their little hidey hole swung open with quite the force, causing the two of them to pull apart in slight surprise and blink over at the mech responsible for disturbing them.

Ratchet glared between the mechs in equal measure but didn’t say anything for a few seconds. “Touch my tools again and I’ll reformat the both of you into blenders,” he snapped, and slammed the door shut once more. They could hear him grumbling all the way back down the corridor, and Sideswipe caught Air Raid’s optics before bursting into laughter as soon as the CMO was out of audial range.

Air Raid started sniggering too, pressing his face to Sideswipe’s shoulder. “So much for being quiet.” He lifted his head after a moment, grin still there but a little bit of heat in his optics. “But maybe it’s just as well. As much as I’m for you fragging me against a wall someday, I’d kinda like to try a berth first.”

“I’m sure that can be arranged,” Sideswipe purred, kissing Air Raid again briefly. “And for the record? This is something you can do anytime. Kiss me deep and dirty in the rec room if you like. I’m not objecting.”

Air Raid licked his lips unconsciously. “Neither would I but I…” He tipped his head back to stare at the ceiling for a moment before squaring his shoulders, bringing his gaze back down. “You make me run hot. If Ratchet hadn’t walked in, my interface panel would have opened the next time you touched my wings. I can’t guarantee my control around you.”

“You know your limits better than I do,” said Sideswipe quietly, “so I’ll take my cues from you. We can go back to mine if you like, that way you needn’t worry.”

“Oh Primus,” Air Raid muttered. “Okay first, very yes but secondly, what I meant was if that happened, if you wanted to carry on, I wouldn’t say no. I just wanted to warn you that one is your call. I definitely don’t think with my processors once I’m that wound up.”

“Good to know. I’ll keep it light in public then.” Sideswipe used the hand around Air Raid’s waist to tug him in a little more. “So a yes to my place, hmm? Privacy and a rather gorgeous flyer?”

Air Raid shuddered. “Yes. I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about you fragging me, repeatedly.” Air Raid slid both hands to Sideswipe’s shoulders. “And here’s where I’m kinda hoping you’re a spike mech.”

“I think you just might be in luck. I’m very much a spike mech.” Sideswipe leaned down to steal a couple more kisses and then began pulling Air Raid back towards the door. “C’mon, Sunshine’s on patrol. We got the place to ourselves.”

Air Raid followed rapidly. “If we make it there.” When Sideswipe stopped to get the door Air Raid stole another kiss. “Because this is going to get distracting.”

“Didn’t know you were such an exhibitionist.” Sideswipe pulled Air Raid gently out of the storage closet and began making his way towards his room, keeping one arm around the flyer’s waist to keep him close.

“I don’t know if I am, but the idea of it…” Air Raid lifted his hand to Sideswipe’s chest. “With you. I’m not going to ask for something you’re not comfortable with.”

“We’ll save that thought for another time,” Sideswipe replied, interlacing their digits with his other free hand. “Right now I have a berth that I want to frag you into, so that’s what I’m gonna do.”

Air Raid shivered. “Yeah and I’m going to enjoy every moment of it.” He pressed a kiss to Sideswipe’s shoulder, lingering and slow. The red mech’s optics darkened a little, and he didn’t say anything more as they wound their way through a few more corridors. A couple of the Autobots passed them practically tangled up in each other already and gave them a bit of a wide berth, but neither mech noticed or cared. Eventually they found themselves outside of Sideswipe’s room, and he punched his code in and the door hissed almost silently open to let them in. It locked behind them and Sideswipe turned a rather devious smile on Air Raid.

“Well, you’ve got me alone now.”

“Technically I had you alone before,” Air Raid pointed out. He stepped in closer until they were nearly chest to chest again. “What do you want? Tell me how you want me.”

Sideswipe’s hand shot out to grip Air Raid by the chin, tilting his head up so he could lean down and press kisses to a bared throat. “I want,” he began, voice pitched low and deep, “to see your pretty mouth stretched around my spike, and I want your valve to swallow me up. I want to see you on top of me riding me, I want to see you under me screaming my name into the berth, and I want to watch every second of your pleasure. How does that sound?”

The shudder was strut deep this time and Air Raid grabbed at Sideswipe to steady himself, digits flexing. “Yes, yes, I’ll do it. I want all of that. I want you to take all of that and use me until you’re satisfied.” He pushed closer, arching into Sideswipe’s mouth and body, eager and willing.

“I thought you might like that.” Sideswipe brought his other hand down, sliding across wing panels and over armor seams until it reached Air Raid’s hips, where it stopped to play and dip into the seams both around the outside and inside of them. “Now, are you alright if I stand behind you, use your wings and your back?”

Air Raid nodded. “I trust you. You don’t have to ask anymore. Use me anyway you want.” He lifted a hand to Sideswipe’s face, bringing his own back down and went in for a kiss, deep and hard. Sideswipe pressed into the kiss and dropped the hand on Air Raid’s face to where his other was still playing around the hips, and then both of them came around to the backs of the flyer’s thighs and then promptly hitched him up, lifting Air Raid from the floor with graceful ease and never breaking the kiss. He started moving back towards the berth carefully, smiling into their liplock slightly as Air Raid’s wings started quivering.

The flyer wrapped his other arm around Sideswipe’s shoulder, utterly trusting him to support his weight, biting at Sideswipe’s lip when he felt the smile, and wrapping his legs around his waist, rolling his hips. There was a faint rumble as Air Raid’s engine idled into life in his chest. Sideswipe made a vague sound of approval and shifted his hold a little, and eventually he felt the berth hit the backs of his knees. He lowered himself onto it, carefully bringing Air Raid with him and settling the flyer into his lap. It was only then he broke the kiss with a couple more quick ones as his hands left white thighs to restart playing around the hips and joints.

“Can’t wait to see what you look like when you overload,” He said, pushing up with his own hips into Air Raid’s. “Losing all that control and cocky attitude.”

“You going to make me?” Air Raid asked, heat in his voice. “You gonna take what you want? Make me feel it until it’s all I want?” He lifted a hand, trailing digits over the top of one horn and tightened his legs, pushing his interface panel down into Sideswipe’s motions, knowing he could feel the heat radiating from behind it. Sideswipe shifted one of his hands to press digittips against the heated panel, stroking it and teasing it even as he leaned into the caress on his horn.

“And you won’t be able to do a thing to stop me,” Sideswipe growled. “I’m gonna take everything you have to offer.”

Air Raid’s head tipped back and he let out a low noise. The interface panel slid open under Sideswipe’s digits revealing an already slick valve. “Sideswipe…” He loosened his legs, shifted until he got his knees under him, letting him roll his hips more into Sideswipe’s hand. The hand on the frontliner’s horn pulled his head forward more, unintentionally rough. Sideswipe groaned and buried his face into Air Raid, kissing and nipping at his neck and shoulders fervently. He pressed the heel of his palm hard against the node on the edge of Air Raid’s valve in retaliation, circling it a few times with his digits in gentle touches before steadily sinking his middle digit into the wet heat unceremoniously, making sure it wasn’t hurting but not stopping either until he was right up to the knuckle. Another groan escaped him as he bit into part of a section of shoulder armor.

“So tight,” he murmured against it, “so good.”

Air Raid cried out, hips jerking down at the press of the digit. “Frag, _yes_.” He brought his head back down to get his mouth onto the other little horn, dragging his glossa over it, again and again before biting at it. He spread his knees out a little more for Sideswipe, rocking his hips, riding Sideswipe’s hand. Sideswipe hissed in pleasure, crooking his digit and starting to pump slowly in and out of the valve, testing and teasing the walls while the rest of his digits ran around the edge of the valve instead, playing with the node and starting to add a second digit before pulling it back out again. He repeated this a few times to several frustrated noises, and he chuckled into Air Raid’s chest before sliding another digit in beside his first and not pulling it out again, pressing up to the knuckle once more and twisting them as he ran his glossa over the edge of one of the vents on Air Raid’s chest.

“Tease,” Air Raid hissed into Sideswipe’s plating. “Knew you would.” He groaned deeply, engine kicking up a notch, vents matching it. “Even… even when you could just take me.” Pushing a hand over one of Sideswipe’s shoulders, Air Raid scraped his digits down his plating until he found the connections for the jetpack. He circled the port, touch heavy as he laid his mouth back on the horn again.

“Why wouldn’t I?” Sideswipe arched into Air Raid, lips breaking off from their patterning as he moaned into the touch on his connectors and horn. “You’re gorgeous.” He slowly started pumping and twisting and scissoring his digits, pressing against soft walls and flickering across the node with every other movement. He started nudging a third digit in after a moment, and his mouth turned up a little. “How many can you take, I wonder?”

“You tell me,” Air Raid replied, voice heavy. “Tell me to take all of it, I will.” He pushed down with his hips, trying to force Sideswipe to move quicker. The hand on his back pressed at the port, dipping inside the rim. “Tell me when to overload, tell me I can’t.”

Sideswipe’s fans kicked up and his engine rumbled into life, causing a brief jolt to run through him that pressed his digits in a little deeper. Answering Air Raid’s silent plea he began twisting and pumping and crooking his digits faster, harsher and harder motions even as a fourth pressed its way into the valve while his thumb stayed out to keep playing with the node. “Sounds to me like you just want to be dominated, in every way,” Sideswipe groaned, intakes hitching slightly. “Used in every way. What would you let me get away with...”

Air Raid choked out a cry, shuddering under the assault. “Anything. Anything. I want it.” His digits flexed against Sideswipe’s plating. He threw his head back, world centering down to Sideswipe’s digits in his valve, hips rolling into the thrusts. “ _Please_ Sides…”

Sideswipe’s initial response was to open his own interface panel, allowing his spike to pressurize against Air Raid’s thigh so the flyer could feel it, before he leaned forwards to follow Air Raid, resuming his kisses and nips and bites across his neck and shoulders. He teased a couple of shallow thrusts against Air Raid’s interface panel even as he scissored his digits out roughly and dragged them down the walls of the flyer’s valve. “Please what, babe? You wanting something? An overload, maybe? Another digit? You take them so well.”

The cry was louder this time, desperate and needy. “My… my valve… yours. Please.” Air Raid managed to drag his head back down. His optics were wide and his mouth hung open as he panted, vents not doing enough as the energy crawled through his systems. “You can… you can…” A hand dropped down between them to Sideswipe’s, curling around his wrist. “I can take it.”

Sideswipe’s optics darkened considerably at that as he stretched his digits out once more, dragged his thumb over the node and began to slip it inside the valve to join the rest of his digits after a couple of aborted attempts, waiting until the pliable metals and polymers were more willing to let him in. His voice choked when he gasped at the feeling of Air Raid’s valve basically taking his whole hand, lubricant sliding down his heel and wrist.

“‘Raid, Primus, you... you’re so...” He flexed his digits and peppered the chest in front of him with kisses. “So good, you... you feel amazing...”

Air Raid’s vocalizer locked out on him as his whole body jerked. His valve rippled around the presence inside it, protesting it was too much and Air Raid’s hands dented plating as they tightened on Sideswipe’s shoulder and forearm. He rose up on his knees, body trying to get away from the intense sensations even as his hand locked Sideswipe’s in place. If he had any ability left to register systems screaming at him as the energy built to overload levels he might have been able to beg but there was nothing left to spare beyond the feelings radiating from his valve.

“Look at you, you don’t know what to... to do with this,” Sideswipe said breathlessly, his spike twitching against a white thigh. He reached up with his free hand and yanked at the back of Air Raid’s helm, bringing him back down and into range so Sideswipe could lean up and kiss him, hard and deep as he twisted his hand. “You gonna overload for me, gorgeous? Show me how much you like this?”

Air Raid made choked noises into the kiss, trying to nod, but then energy crackled through him as his overload hit. He wrenched away, scream ripping from him as his valve tightened around Sideswipe’s hand, increasing the pressure and intensity of his overload. His grip tightened again, body going taut in Sideswipe’s grip and unable to relax as the sensors from his stuffed valve continued to feed him the same signals. Sideswipe worked him through his overload and it was only after the energy finished coursing through Air Raid that he started to slow his movements bit by bit, the smile on his lips wide and almost predatory. Eventually he left the valve and its warm, dripping heat, one digit at a time, until it was empty and trickling lubricant down slightly shaky pelvic plating.

“You,” Sideswipe murmured, “are gorgeous when you let go. And you take me so well.” He raised his hand to his lips and ran a glossa up one of the digits, optics half shuttering. “And you taste good too.”

Air Raid was still panting hard, shaking and when Sideswipe finally pulled free his legs gave out and he slumped back down into Sideswipe’s lap. He watched the other mech clean off his own hand with bright optics. “Primus… I feel so… empty. Promise me you’ll do that again some day.”

“Whenever you want me to, babe,” Sideswipe assured, dragging the hand around Air Raid’s helm to the front to run across his cheek and lips before moving down to the flyer’s chest as he cleaned the last of his digits with a vaguely obscene sound. “I could watch you do that again and again and never get tired of it. I wouldn’t worry though, you won’t be empty for too much longer.”

Air Raid’s optics tracked downwards to the curve of Sideswipe’s spike that jutted up between his thighs. His glossa flicked out over his lips. “I believe you said you wanted to see my pretty mouth stretched around your spike.”

“I _really_ want to see your pretty mouth stretched around my spike,” Sideswipe growled lowly, leaning up to press his lips to Air Raid’s. “And then I want to use it. Claim it.”

Air Raid kissed him back hard, tasting himself as their glossas tangled. He dropped one hand to curl around Sideswipe’s spike, dragging it from tip to base. “My mouth, my valve, all of it, it’s yours.”

Sideswipe hummed appreciatively at the touch on his spike, thrusting into the flyer’s hand shallowly. “And I’ll make sure you remember that for days afterwards.” He brushed a thumb over Air Raid’s lips before pushing his head away slightly and sitting up. “Now, get on the floor on your knees, gorgeous.”

Air Raid shivered, wings flaring up behind him. He put his hands on the berth either side of Sideswipe’s hips to help shuffle backwards off the berth, groaning as the movement pulled at his valve. His pedes touched down first and he managed to take two steps back from the berth before sinking down onto his knees, thighs spreading to help with the ache in his port. Air Raid looked up at Sideswipe. “You gonna frag my mouth? Show me what you’re going to do to my valve?”

Sideswipe stood up then and gripped the side of Air Raid’s helm with one hand, pressing his spike against the other cheek. He looked down at the flyer and bit his bottom lip through a smirk at the slight widening of optics. “You’re slagging right I am.” He moved his hips and set the tip of his spike against Air Raid’s lips instead, keeping a tight hold on the flyer’s helm with one hand. “Now, open that pretty mouth for me and show me you want it.”

Air Raid obeyed instantly, glossa flicking out to taste. His own hands tightened on his thighs, anticipation thrumming through him even as he kept his optics on Sideswipe’s face. The want and need was written clearly through every line on his body and he offered no resistance to the grip on his head.

“Good,” Sideswipe hissed, and he pushed his hip forward to press his spike into the waiting mouth, groaning at the warmth around him. He kept his movements slow at first, sliding onwards to give Air Raid enough time to stop him if necessary, but as the flyer’s lips reached the base of his spike and he felt himself touch the back of Air Raid’s throat he moaned softly, his other hand joining his first on the other side of the Aerial’s helm. “Primus, ‘Raid...”

Air Raid swallowed around the thick, hot length in his mouth, moaning. His hands rose to Sideswipe’s thighs and dug in. He nodded as best he could, optics still watching Sideswipe’s face and tugged at him. The frontliner hissed again and began to thrust, slowly and shallowly at first to see how his lover reacted, but when all he got were encouraging noises and further tugs on his hips he gradually picked up speed and depth, shuttering his optics briefly. Eventually he was pulling almost all the way out of Air Raid’s mouth and then driving forwards again until the flyer’s lips were at his base plates, beautifully stretched and glistening with lubricant. Sideswipe’s grip on Air Raid’s helm to hold him in place tightened a little.

“Primus Air Raid, you are _such_ a turn on.”

The noises rose in volume as the flyer encouraged Sideswipe more, doing his best to swallow down around every thrust. There was a puddle of lubricant on the floor under Air Raid’s open valve and he shifted his grip. His digits found the open seam between leg and hips plates and dug in hard. Sideswipe shuddered, his rhythm faltering slightly, and he widened his stance a little for Air Raid to get into the joint properly. He was running hot already, revved up from feeling Air Raid around his hand and watching him cry out his overload to the room, and the sensation of the Aerial’s rather tight mouth and lips and glossa around his spike was addictive and building up energy at the base of his spinal struts far quicker than Sideswipe had anticipated. He tipped his head down to properly look at Air Raid and watch, his violet optics dark and anticipatory.

“You feel so good, I can’t...” He trailed off and the next time Air Raid’s lips touched his baseplates he held the flyer’s head there. “You want me, don’t you? You want your mouth full of my transfluid, your voice wrecked.”

Air Raid groaned. His wings flared and he kept swallowing around the weight in his throat, vents roaring in compensation. He shifted his hands around to Sideswipe’s aft and pulled at him hard, pushing him just a fraction deeper and moaned, letting the vibrations last, travelling through his mouth, around the spike inside it. Sideswipe’s hips jerked and he started up his rhythm from before, slightly faster and slightly harder. The build-up in his struts became larger and he could feel the static running up his back, which caused his pace to become just that little bit more frenetic.

“‘ _Raid_...” Sideswipe managed to get out, before his overload came roaring to the fore and he thrust his spike as deep as he could into Air Raid’s mouth, digits not quite tightening enough to leave dents but more than enough to make impressions. Air Raid clung to him, swallowing rapidly, optics shutting for the first time. His grip stayed tight, holding Sideswipe to him, nose buried into his base plates as he milked him for all he was worth, dragging out the overload as much as he could. The frontliner curled around Air Raid’s head a little and stayed there for several long seconds even after the flyer had finished sucking him dry and taking everything he had to offer. His vents were screaming and he shivered a little, then finally let go of Air Raid’s helm to pull out of the Aerial’s pretty mouth, now well-used and flushed. Sideswipe managed a grin through his venting, lopsided as it was, and ran a digit across Air Raid’s cheek.

“That’s my good flyer.” He started to sit back on the berth very slowly. “Up, gorgeous.”

Air Raid let him go so his hands were free to slide up Sideswipe’s legs as he stood. He placed his hands on either side of his hips and leant in to give him a long, slow, deep kiss as he crowded in between his legs. “You’re going to feel so good in my valve,” Air Raid said, voice rough and low. “And I’m going to want no one else ever again.”

“Good, ‘cause I’m never letting you go.” Sideswipe leaned back as he got himself settled on the berth, pulling Air Raid with him so the flyer was forced to balance himself on his hands either side of Sideswipe’s waist. “Want my spike, do you? Want it hard and fast and deep and dirty? I think you should put in a little effort for it, ride me while I watch.”

“Do you want to watch my face as I take you in or my wings as I ride you?” Air Raid asked, one hand trailing in closer to Sideswipe’s spike, teasingly soft on his plating. “I know you want to see your spike slide into my valve.”

“Your face,” replied Sideswipe heatedly. “I’ll watch your wings when I take you on the berth from behind.”

Air Raid groaned. He swung his leg over each side of Sideswipe’s hips and spread his hands over his abdominal plates for balance. Slowly he lowered his hips, sucking in a breath as he felt the head of Sideswipe’s spike graze his valve, rolling his hips to feel it again before sinking down a little lower. The tip pushed past the soft folds at the entrance and Air Raid raised his head to look at Sideswipe the instant before he dropped the rest of the way, not stopping until he was pressed as close as he could get. The sudden intrusion wrung a cry out of the flyer, valve spasming. “ _Frag, frag yes_!” 

The abrupt envelopment of his spike into a hot, slick valve, eager and rippling and tight, caused Sideswipe to choke out a cry of his own that may or may not have been Air Raid’s name and drop his hands to the flyer’s knees, where they squeezed involuntarily to a point just shy of denting. His optics flared as a surge ran through his systems and he dropped them to where his spike vanished into Air Raid’s body. “Slaggit, babe, you feel incredible,” he gasped out.

“Primus, you feel so good,” Air Raid whined, grinding his hips in circles, optics shuttering as he chased the pleasure. “Knew you would, knew you’d fill me just right.” He lifted up with his hips until just the tip was inside before dropping again, choking out a cry but this time he didn’t stop before doing it again. “Want it, want it so bad, all the time.”

“Any time,” Sideswipe groaned, digits digging into the seams around Air Raid’s knees. “That’s it, my gorgeous flyer. Ride me, work me, take all of me. Whatever you want it’s yours.”

“Keep you here forever,” Air Raid gasped out. “Feel so good in me.” He started clenching around Sideswipe’s spike on every descent, rolling his hips against the base plates to grind his node. His digits dug in as he leant forward a little, trying to find the best angle.

Sideswipe shifted his hips a little and lifted them up every so often to meet Air Raid’s downward movements, changing angles and letting himself slide just that little bit deeper. One of his hands started trailing up the Aerial’s knee to his thigh, stopping occasionally to draw glyphs into the armor, until he reached the hips moving up and down and rotating around his spike. He slipped digits into the seam gap to the underlying substructure and started tugging at wires and pinching cables, optics alternating between watching Air Raid’s face and watching his spike get swallowed up so completely.

Air Raid cried out, motions juddering as Sideswipe’s touches sent random signals through his hips. “Sides… please, please I…” He bit at his lip, trying to get Sideswipe’s spike deeper, harder, faster. The flyer curled forwards, hands sliding off to land on the berth, pressing his face into Sideswipe’s chest. “I want… I want you to…”

“To what, babe?” purred Sideswipe, thoroughly enjoying the reactions he was wringing out of his lover. “Do this?” He dug his digits deeper into the hip joint to brush against one of Air Raid’s gyro mechanisms. He then drove his hips up suddenly, hard and fast. “That? Or do you want me to overload first, so you can feel me filling you up?”

Air Raid shuddered, whine crawling out of his throat. “All… all of it. Use me.” He lifted his head slightly. “That… that turns me on, when you’re using me to get your pleasure. When… when…” The flyer turned his head again, abruptly biting down at the end of Sideswipe’s chest plate, glossa soothing the sting immediately afterwards.

“You’re a slut for me,” Sideswipe summarized with a growl, thrusting his hips up sharply once more. Air Raid was still clenching and rolling as he moved up and down Sideswipe’s spike and it was damn good, catching every sensitive spot across his jack over and over. He was flush with the pleasure and the wanton Aerial still riding him. “You’re a slut for everything I want to do to you, that it?”

Air Raid whined, nodding frantically, a rush of lubricant sliding down Sideswipe’s spike. “Yes, yes, for you. Want it, please Sides, please frag me.” His hands crawled back on to Sideswipe’s plating, clinging to him. His own overload was sitting somewhere low in his body, hovering, waiting on Sideswipe to give Air Raid what he needed. The red twin bared his denta at the Aerial at that and brought his free hand off the other knee and back down sharply across the back of his hip, not hard enough to hurt but enough to sting.

“I told you to put some effort in and _ride me_ ,” Sideswipe reminded him, opening his legs out a little more so Air Raid could sit a little deeper into his pelvis. “I want to see you overload from working yourself on my spike, I want to fill you up with my transfluid while you’re screaming your pleasure to the room.”

Air Raid cried out at the sharp sting to his hip and obediently struggled upright again, trying to work himself down more onto Sideswipe’s spike. This time he leant backwards, hands sliding down Sideswipe’s legs, back arching to give himself more leverage. “I’m sorry, I’ll be good. I… I just want it so bad, please, fill me up.”

A rush ran through Sideswipe’s frame at Air Raid’s compliance, causing some crackling and static in its wake. He hadn’t quite expected that response but he’d be damned if it didn’t really turn him on. He brought the hand that had smacked Air Raid’s hip around to the front, where it joined the other in digging into the seam. “ _Overload_ ,” Sideswipe demanded roughly as one of his digits struck the gyro again.

The scream this time was louder than before as the overload rushed through Air Raid’s frame. He ground down against Sideswipe’s base plates, lubricant making them slick as his body shuddered, excess energy jumping between them. His valve tightened like a vice around Sideswipe, unconsciously demanding the transfluid it had been promised. True to his word Sideswipe released his hold on his overload, allowing it to wash through him and he jerked upwards with his hips to drive himself just that little bit deeper, releasing his transfluid as far into Air Raid’s valve as he could. It was suddenly warmer and slicker and he moaned long and loud as he shuttered his optics, digits tightening.

“There you are, babe, that’s my good flyer.”

Air Raid whined softly at the words, hips rolling at the feel of the transfluid deep inside his valve. He struggled back upright and one hand dropped to where they were joined, pressing down a little. “Primus, yes, feels so good.” Air Raid shakily slid his other hand up to Sideswipe’s chest. “Want to keep it in here forever. Will you fill me back up when it’s gone?”

“As many times as you want, as long as you keep being good for me,” Sideswipe murmured, taking a hand from Air Raid’s hips and running his thumb over the flyer’s lips instead, pressing it into his mouth. “Keep doing what you’re told and I’ll keep giving you my spike.”

Air Raid sucked on the thumb, nodding. “I promise,” he mumbled around the thumb. “Whatever you want, whenever.” The hand from Sideswipe’s chest trailed up his arm until he could wrap it around his hand to hold it to his face, lavishing more attention on the thumb. Sideswipe’s smile gentled for a moment, optics shuttering slightly as he held Air Raid’s gaze, before he pulled his thumb back with a soft ‘pop’ and tucked both of his hands under Air Raid’s thighs.

“Get on the berth,” he said lowly, “face down, wings up.”

Air Raid shuddered but didn’t drop Sideswipe’s gaze as he lifted himself off his spike. Noises worked their way out of his vocalizer and his hand was instantly there, pressing in tight to try to hold in the transfluid in his valve. It wasn’t so easy for him to swing one leg off the red mech but he managed it, turning to give his back to Sideswipe as he laid down on his front as told. His hips hitched up a little, hand still on his valve, a small whimper escaping him. Sideswipe sat up and back for a moment, just taking in the view with a rev of his turbo-charged engine, then moved forwards to sit himself either side of Air Raid’s thighs.

“There, so good. You look divine like this, all ready for me.” He reached down and covered Air Raid’s hand with his briefly before plunging two digits straight into his valve while his other hand brushed down the wings sweeping out from the Aerial’s back. He leaned across Air Raid’s back a little. “Let me know if I’m too much on your wings, alright babe?”

A cry left Air Raid’s lips at the sudden intrusion of digits into his valve and he tried to lift into them but couldn’t with his thighs pinned beneath Sideswipe. He wriggled his hand free so he could grab two handfuls of the covers instead. “Please Sides, I want to be good for you, I’ll be good. Whatever you want. I’m yours, your slut.”

“Yeah, you are.” Sideswipe worked his digits for a moment until he was satisfied, then pulled them out only to replace them almost immediately with his spike, thrusting right into the hilt giving Air Raid no warning or reprieve. He settled himself more across the flyer’s back and brought the two digits he’d used to explore the valve to Air Raid’s lips and pressed them inside, snapping his hips as he did so.

Air Raid jerked under Sideswipe as he thrust home, a choked out moan leaving him. The extra weight settling over him was more of a thrill than he realized it would be, as it kept him in place for Sideswipe to use. He willingly accepted the digits but was unprepared for the second hard thrust, crying out. Desperately he tried to concentrate on sucking and licking the digits, knowing that’s what Sideswipe wanted. The frontliner’s engine purred in response and he started thrusting in earnest, each plunge of his spike into Air Raid’s valve hard and deep. He pressed kisses into the flyer’s wings, nipping at air brakes and panels and running his glossa over areas that Air Raid really responded to, making a mental note of them for later. His frame was ridiculously sensitized now, as he was sure Air Raid’s was as well, and the valve he was pushing into was alternatively loose from all the attention it had gotten and tight as Air Raid clenched around the intrusion unconsciously. It was maddening and glorious and felt so good and he honestly wondered about what Air Raid was doing to him that he felt like he could just keep going.

One particularly strong thrust made Air Raid choke out a noise, muffled by Sideswipe’s digits, and in response he bit at the wing in front of him then soothed across the bite with his glossa.

“How many overloads can I get out of you?” he muttered, almost rhetorically. “I bet you’d just let me carry on using you once you were out, wouldn’t you?”

“Yes,” Air Raid begged around the digits, arching back as much as he could into the attention to his wings. “My valve is yours whenever you want it. You could...you could…” Air Raid shuddered. “If you wanted to frag me in front of everyone, I’d let them see I was your slut.” His hands were pulling at the covers, threatening to tear it.

“No,” replied Sideswipe fiercely. “That’s something only I get to see. I don’t want anyone else seeing you like this.” He took the digits out of Air Raid’s mouth and used them instead to tilt his helm up and back, increasing the speed of his hips even as they started to stutter slightly. “For our optics only, gorgeous.”

Air Raid whined. “Yours, yours. Please, fill me again. I want it, always want you. Feel so good.” There was a steady stream of lubricant and transfluid pooling under Air Raid pelvis and thighs and he wanted to push into the thrusts, to show he could take it more. “You frag me so good. I’ll overload when you tell me, doesn’t matter how many.”

“You’d offline before I could finish with you.” Sideswipe shivered as heavy static ran up his spinal struts and he pressed his face into Air Raid’s back, pressing kisses everywhere he could reach. “You’re so... so addictive babe.” His hips started to falter as more static sparked through him, thrusts becoming uneven and heavy.

His overload pulsed through him in a rather surprising cascade - he hadn’t anticipated one quite that fast yet - but that didn’t stop him from sinking his spike deep as it would go as it splashed transfluid into Air Raid’s valve, crying out his pleasure into the wings in front of him through a full frame shudder.

Air Raid moaned at the feeling of more transfluid filling his valve. “Yes, Sides, yes, so good.” His own overload was being held at bay sheer force of will and the need to be told to let go. “I promise I’ll be good. I won’t go offline until you’re done with me, until you’ve used me and you’re satisfied.”

Sideswipe dropped Air Raid’s helm back onto the berth with a shaky ex-vent as he sat back a little and studied the flyer under him. “How about a new rule,” he hummed, tracing the edge of a wing before placing both of his hands flat in the middle of them. “You can overload whenever you want, unless I specifically tell you not to. I _like_ seeing you lose it and I want to see it as often as possible.” With that he activated his piledriver functions and sent a fairly strong pulse through the flyer’s wings, more than enough to make them tremble.

Air Raid shrieked, everything locking up as his overload hit, dragged out by sensations he definitely had no comparison to. His valve clenched down around Sideswipe’s spike. Energy sparked down his frame, making his wings twitch and jump. “That was…” He panted into the berth, lying prone beneath Sideswipe.

“My piledriver systems,” Sideswipe said with a breathless chuckle. “Weren’t expecting that, were you gorgeous?” He trailed his digits down each wing, sitting back properly but leaving himself still buried in Air Raid’s body. “Like it?”

The flyer nodded, still a little off kilter. “Next time you… you’ve got your hand in my valve, I want to feel it.” His energy levels were rapidly dropping now but he would fight that with everything he had to stay online for Sideswipe. He was far surpassing all of Air Raid’s daydreams about what this would be like.

“Oh, that would make you scream so hard your vocalizer would give out,” Sideswipe grinned, optics flashing. “But I’ll see what I can do.” He pressed his hips down into Air Raid’s for a moment, relishing the feel of the valve around him, then slowly pulled out of the Aerial’s body. “Close your panel,” he said softly, “and turn over and look at me.”

The panel clicked shut rapidly but it took a moment for Air Raid to summon up the energy to turn over. He lay back against the berth, already missing Sideswipe’s weight holding him down and reached up for the frontliner, one hand sliding up his chest, the other going for the side of his helm. Sideswipe’s grin turned gentle as he caught blue optics with his own and he dipped down to press a soft kiss to Air Raid’s lips.

“You’re so good, my gorgeous flyer. So beautiful. How are you feeling?”

“Good, you’ve been so good to me,” Air Raid told him, optics on his face, hands stroking. “If you want me to do anything, I will. I’m yours. If you want to frag me again, even if I’m in recharge, I’ll open for you.”

“Mmm, maybe I’ll wake you up like that one morning then. I’m sure you’d love that.” Sideswipe hesitated briefly, but then carried on. “‘Raid, thanks for trusting me. I promise I’ll take care of you. Always.”

Air Raid smiled then, wide and pleased. "Knew you'd be good to me. I'll always be here for you too. Anything I can do, give you." 

“I already have what I want,” Sideswipe told him, then promptly swooped down for a long, lingering kiss.

Primus but Air Raid was going to be the death of him one of these days, and Sideswipe loved the thought.

  
  


-x-

  
  


There was always the risk of battles happening while bots were still in recovery, especially if the recovery happened to take a while due to being ripped practically in half by a very angry gestalt. Luckily there were only minor skirmishes while Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were out of commission and whilst the Autobots might have been down two of their heaviest hitters it didn’t take long or much mechpower to put those small insurgencies down. The trend continued for a little bit even after the twins were back at full strength and raring to go, but they did get their wish for action eventually.

Sideswipe had to wonder why it took as long as it did - not that he was really expecting it to happen - and his only conclusion was that now that he and Air Raid were involved it had become a much more personal thing for the Aerial. It took a few months after the twins had been put down by Devastator, and the gestalt had made appearances since then that none of the Aerialbots had really taken any kind of special notice of, so it was the only difference between those battles and this one that Sideswipe could think of.

Fireflight wasn’t really a vengeance type of mech, he fell much more into the ‘protector, let’s make sure this never happens again’ camp. Air Raid, on the other hand, was brash and turbobull-headed on the best of days.

The frontliner hadn’t noticed at first, too busy keeping Blitzwing and Octane from strafing Bluestreak’s position or flushing him out from where he was crack-shotting the Seekers. The young gunner, while an impeccable marksman and capable of taking care of himself, was vulnerable to heavy-fire ground infantry and strafing should his position be discovered. For the moment he was safe where he was, as neither triple-changer actually knew his position exactly, but they had worked out the general area and it would only be a matter of time. Sunstreaker wasn’t there to help Sideswipe, having been assigned as a shocktrooper instead for this particular battle, so the red mech was hunting by himself this time.

He’d taken Octane out and was hot on Blitzwing’s tail when the screaming of jets overhead make him glance up instinctively. What he’d learned by now from the humans was an F-15 fighter jet streaked across the sky in all its red and white glory, and he couldn’t help the smile that tugged at his mouth until he noticed where the jet was heading and where the rest of his team were. The smile dropped then as he watched Air Raid aim straight for Devastator, guns blazing and twisting with unearthly agility around the flailing gestalt.

Sideswipe glanced back to where he knew Astrotrain was and returned to Air Raid, then snarled and carried on after the triple-changer, faster and more determined now.

He caught up with Astrotrain pretty quickly, uncomfortably close to Bluestreak’s sniper nest, and while Astrotrain was bigger and to an extent stronger Sideswipe was in exactly no mood for games, and the resultant battle was quick and messy and ended with Sideswipe’s right hip sliced open and Astrotrain offline on the floor, part of his helm caved in.

- _Hey Blue, your position should be clear now,_ \- Sideswipe radioed, picking himself up.

- _Great, thanks Sides! I wasn’t looking forward to moving from here, this is a really good spot with all the sightlines and cover._ \- Bluestreak’s grateful, chipper tones were always good to hear, and Sideswipe couldn’t help the quick grin that flashed across his face. The kid was almost saccharine sweet and the twins liked him a lot.

- _No problem. Can you do me a favor real quick though?_ -

- _Sure, what do you need?_ -

- _Use that scope of yours and see what Air Raid’s doing. He was being an idiot last I saw him and I want to know if he still is._ -

There was silence on the other end of the comm for a moment, and Bluestreak came back to him with a vague undertone of concern coloring his words. - _He’s buzzing around Devastator, diving and strafing. He sort of looks like he’s trying Ramjet’s strategy. Also, one of his engines is smoking. Doesn’t look bad and I don’t think it’s hindering him any._ -

“Slagaft,” Sideswipe muttered fiercely to himself. - _Thanks Blue, let me know if you need any more backup._ -

He dropped the comm as soon as Bluestreak chirruped a ‘goodbye’ at him and hurtled back towards the battlefield, alternating root mode, vehicle mode and jetpack to get himself there faster. It still took him several minutes to get back to the main bulk of the fighting, but once there he didn’t pause as he raced straight for Devastator. As he drew closer he could see that Bluestreak was right, smoke was trailing out of Air Raid’s right booster and between the clouds he could just glimpse some sparking and vague smears of pink. It didn’t seem to be affecting his flying though, or if it was Sideswipe just wasn’t familiar enough to notice, but he still let his engine rumble angrily as he transformed, threw himself forwards with his jetpack and slammed into the knee of Devastator with all the force his jetpack and both piledrivers at full strength could muster.

It turned out to be quite a lot. The joint cracked under his effort, though it wasn’t enough to bring the Constructicons out of formation, and Devastator howled in pain before swinging around to face the newest threat of Sideswipe. The red mech jumped on comms once more even as he transformed into vehicle mode and tore off to avoid Devastator’s reach. - _What the frag are you doing ‘Raid? Not even I’m idiotic enough to go after a full-blown gestalt by myself!_ -

- _He can’t catch me. Only Skydive’s faster and when I’m done, he won’t be fragging looking at you for ages. Hurt Devastator enough, they have to fix him without their medic and that takes so much longer._ \- Air Raid replied, voice full of anger and burning hatred.

- _It’s war, ‘Raid, and my being caught was an accident,_ \- Sideswipe said exasperatedly. - _You wanna take out a gestalt you go after the pieces, not the whole. I don’t care if you think he can't catch you, anger makes you sloppy and sloppy gets you hurt._ \- Sideswipe dodged another attempt of Devastator’s to catch him, curtailed by another strafe of Air Raid’s. He unfolded out into root mode and again rocketed forwards with his jetpack towards Devastator’s knees. - _Go back to your team, ‘Raid, please. I don’t need a white knight._ -

- _Oh so you can take risks and I can’t?_ \- Air Raid snapped back, high rolling back over Devastator’s head. - _I can’t look after someone I care about? Frag you. I’m not leaving, especially while you’re here._ \- This time, as he came back in, guns blazing, he led his shots, missing for the most part, until Sideswipe slammed back into the same knee joint as before. Devastator roared, weight shifting in pain, and Air Raid’s shots landed, squared across his visor, shattering it.

- _I’m a frontliner! That’s my damn_ job!- Sideswipe replied tightly, swerving to avoid the trampling pedes of the giant mech. - _I take the hits so others like you don’t have to, you slagger. Gestalts aren’t to be trifled with, you of all mechs should know that._ \- He skidded to a halt a fair ways away from Devastator, optics upturned towards Air Raid. - _Please, Air Raid, this isn’t what I want. Take on the Constructicons, not Devastator._ -

With Devastator clawing at his own faceplates, ignoring everything around him, Air Raid swung back around to Sideswipe and blasted down to land on his pedes right in front of the frontliner. Optics blazing, energon smeared up one leg, he was a sight of piqued anger. He threw his arm back at the combiner behind him. “We fight combiners every time we’re sent out! No one knows them better than we do! I’m not fragging trifling with him!” The hand came back down to land on Sideswipe’s chest, gripping hard. “You don’t want it, fine. What about me? Don’t I get some say? What if it had been the other way around now and he’d ripped my limbs off?” Air Raid’s voice was climbing in both volume and octaves, uncaring of their situation.

“The key word there ‘Raid is ‘we’. You have an entire team to help you. Pit, you have Sunny and I to help you, you didn’t have to go off all half-cocked just because Devastator swatted me out of the sky.” Sideswipe grabbed the hand on his chestplates tightly, optics bright. “If he’d hurt you then I would have gone after one of the Constructicons, left them so badly damaged they’d need months of repair work, if not outright killed them. It’s much simpler and much easier and translates across into the gestalt too. Fraggit Raid, if you let your anger get the better of you like that then he _will_ catch you and rip your limbs off and then where would we be? I care about you too much to see that.”

“And I care about you. I had to do something. I’m not weak. I can hold my own, on my own,” Air Raid replied, voice softer now, more desperate. “Sides, please. He hurt you and I...” Air Raid looked away. “I can’t sit around and do nothing and I don’t ask others to risk themselves when I fight my own fights.”

“I never said you were weak, I’m asking you to please choose your fights more carefully. Or at least bring some backup. Why do you think Sunny and I fight together like we do? You get hurt on your own and it can be a death sentence. Besides, you’re already injured. Be careful, babe, that’s all I’m saying. Don’t let anger blind you, I can’t tell you how many times that cost someone their life in the arenas.” Sideswipe took Air Raid’s chin gently. “For me.”

“You’re injured too,” Air Raid said softly. “I saw that. I get angry, I can’t help that and I’m reckless and I make stupid decisions but no one is taking me away from you. I promised.”

“Then don’t deliberately put yourself in a position that makes that a possibility when you don’t have to.” Sideswipe pressed a brief kiss to Air Raid’s lips before glancing back up to the combiner nearby. “C’mon, I’ll be your backup. We almost have him, get your team in here too to really keep him off-balance.”

“I was going to leave him like that,” Air Raid commented. His gaze went a little distant for a moment. “Silverbolt says they can’t leave… whatever it is we’re protecting from Megatron this week. I didn’t listen to the briefing.”

“Then go back to your brothers and piss off Bonecrusher next time you see him by destroying his destructive art or something. Or shoot Scrapper through the optics.” Sideswipe squeezed Air Raid’s hand. “Go on, you idiot.”

The flyer looked back at him. “Stay safe, please.”

“I should be telling you that.” He pointed at the sky and stepped back. “ _Go_.”

Air Raid opened his mouth like he was going to say something more before snapping it shut, taking off and transforming as he went, roaring across the sky back to his teammates. Sideswipe watched him go with an unreadable expression, then turned to study the gestalt who was now trying to pick the shattered remains of his visor from his optics and bellowing in pain every time he tried. The frontliner snorted. Devastator was hardly the brightest combiner he’d ever met.

Still, he wondered if he’d been a little hypocritical with Air Raid considering he and Sunny would exact their own revenge if their situations had been reversed, but at the same time he’d meant what he’d said to Air Raid. He’d never take on a full gestalt unless he absolutely had no other recourse, and he would always bring his brother along for the ride as backup. He sighed and rubbed at the back of his helm before folding into his alt mode and tearing off across the battlefield towards where Sunstreaker was still keeping the Decepticons front lines busy.

He’d never say no to revenge, especially for a loved one, but rage would get a mech nowhere except a one-way ticket to the smelters and, as with every battle, he preferred the smart approach to the approach more likely to get him killed.

He roared into the fight as he skidded in next to Sunstreaker, the last of the triple changers his unfortunate next target. Those thoughts were better left until _after_ life-threatening situations were done with.

  
  


-x-

  
  


The very first winter the Autobots had seen on Earth had brought another first for them that amazed half of the Ark and confused the other half. Snow had started falling heavily one night after all but the skeleton crew were recharging in their berths, and by the next morning the mountain, the Ark and the landscape all past it was covered in a good foot of snow, with the white flakes still coming down. Red Alert had freaked out and nearly activated the entire base’s security systems before Prowl managed to talk him out of it, Inferno further compounding the calming of their glitching security director by showing him snow was a perfectly natural weather phenomenon on Earth.

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker had immediately looked up snow to see what the humans did with it, and then spent the next few days causing merry hell by chucking snowballs at unsuspecting mechs, barring various doorways and non-essential systems with snowmen and, Jazz’s favorite, meticulously creating a bunch of disfigured snow sculptures on top of the Ark which were obviously meant to be some of the Decepticons but they looked so utterly ridiculous and it delighted a lot of the Autobots every time they saw them.

Of course the muddy remnants and slushy aftereffects of snow were also discovered, something Sunstreaker did _not_ enjoy about it, so after the first winter Prowl implemented a few rules that all snow-related activities were to take place outside the Ark and anyone coming in from the snow had to make sure as much of it was off their frames as possible to prevent the Ark from becoming unreasonably filthy. It was also very slippery to drive on, as patrols very quickly found out, and tires and wheel wells became very quickly clogged up with sticky, slushy snow that compacted and sometimes made transforming far more difficult than it needed to be.

By the time the Aerialbots came along snow season had already been and gone, and the next year they didn’t actually have any, to the twins’ disappointment. The upcoming winter had been promising though, colder and colder weather becoming more and more prominent as autumn fell into winter, until finally one morning Sideswipe and Sunstreaker woke up to find a bright white deep sheet of freshly fallen snow covering the Ark and the world around it. They downed their morning rations so ridiculously fast and very quickly afterwards were chiming on the door leading to the Aerialbots’ suite, Sideswipe practically bouncing in place.

Skydive was the one who answered the door, and he hadn’t even opened his mouth to say or ask anything before Sideswipe threw up his hands gleefully. “Snow!” he greeted.

There was a moment’s pause as Skydive took that in. “You know what?” He turned around slightly and yelled, “Air Raid, Fireflight, come deal with this. These two belong to you.”

Fireflight appeared out of his room first, beelining straight for Sunstreaker to throw his arms around him like he hadn’t seen him in weeks. Air Raid wasn’t too far behind, a grin appearing when he saw just how much of a good mood Sideswipe was in. He didn’t throw himself at the red twin but he definitely stopped well within his personal space. “What’s got you this excited?”

“Snow!” Sideswipe repeated happily, rocking back on his pedes and grabbing Air Raid’s hand while his twin practically squished Fireflight with his return hug. “Get your brothers and let’s go, this is your first snowfall!”

“Snow?” Fireflight asked, voice muffled even as Skydive disappeared to get the other two.

“It’s what happens when rain gets too cold here on Earth. It makes everything look stunning and it’s a lot of fun to play around in,” Sideswipe elaborated, “and I think you guys are gonna love it.”

Air Raid grinned, Sideswipe’s mood infectious. Fireflight turned his face to Sunstreaker’s. “Sounds like something you’d hate.”

“The dirt’s in if you don’t rinse the snow off afterwards properly, but the snow itself? It is fun to play around in,” Sunstreaker replied, absently stroking along Fireflight’s back.

“Last time it snowed Ironhide declared war because we kept pelting him with snowballs,” Sideswipe added cheerfully. “We even got Jazz, right in the faceplates.”

“Count me in,” Air Raid declared.

“Us too,” Slingshot announced, having heard Sideswipe’s words, as he came out with the others. Silverbolt looked amused, if resigned, to what was happening.

“Come on then.” Air Raid tugged at Sideswipe’s hand. “Show us this snow.”

Sideswipe whooped happily and dragged his lover with him towards the Ark entrance, the rest of the Aerials and Sunstreaker, hand in hand with Fireflight, following at a slightly more sedate pace, the golden frontliner shaking his head vaguely at his twin’s antics. The doors were closed when they all arrived, but Bluestreak readily opened them with an enthusiastic wave and a wish for them all to have fun, and as soon as they were open wide enough Sideswipe ran out with Air Raid hot on his heels. The others came out to see the landscape in time to watch Sideswipe flop over backwards in a large puff of snowflakes and promptly start waving his arms and legs to make a snow angel.

Sunstreaker stepped out further with Fireflight and smiled at the crisp, cold air and blanket of white as far as the optic could see. “What do you think?” he asked, turning his smile to the others. “Pretty, right?”

“It is!” Fireflight said in awed tones and then was distracted by the way his vents were visible in the air.

“It’s fragging cold!” Slingshot said, kicking at the snow around his pedes.

“But it is kind of cool,” Skydive commented, squatting down to poke at the snow curiously.

Air Raid was considering Sideswipe and it didn’t take him long to flop down beside him, but with his arms tucked in. He followed the same leg motions though, but his tailfins scraped the snow away deeper at the bottom of the angel. Sideswipe sat up with a laugh, staring down at Air Raid with bright optics.

“That’s cheating,” he said, pointing, “you’ve already got wings! Us plebs have to make our own!”

Sunstreaker reached over Fireflight and beckoned to Slingshot, grinning when the Aerial eyed him warily but stalked over to the frontliner. Sunstreaker kept a half-optic on his twin but knelt down in the snow and gathered some of it into a large handful, rounding it out and giving it to Slingshot.

“Go smash Sides in the face with that,” Sunstreaker said lowly. “Then make another one and do the same to Air Raid.”

Slingshot lit up with glee before spinning on his heel, taking the few steps to stand over Sideswipe and full on flinging the snowball at his face. The red mech spluttered immediately, brushing snow off his face to find Sunstreaker laughing at him and Slingshot already having gathered another handful of snow.

“You slagger!” Sideswipe yelled, and Sunstreaker simply showed him a middle digit. “This means war!”

“You better pick your team then,” Slingshot told him before lobbing the snowball at Air Raid who was still prone.

Air Raid made a surprised noise, bolting upright, glaring at his brother even as snow stayed stuck in his helm ridges. “Well I know who I’m _not_ picking!”

Sideswipe reached over and made himself a snowball that he threw right at Slingshot in retaliation, and then rolled to his pedes to lob another one at Silverbolt, cackling. Sunstreaker dodged a third aimed at him and with a mischievous grin at Fireflight began chasing after his twin. Fireflight followed him immediately.

“I’m really bad at throwing things,” Fireflight called after him. “But I’m on your team!”

“So am I!” Silverbolt added, brushing the snow off his shoulder.

“I suppose, in the light of fairness, that means I get Sideswipe and Air Raid,” Skydive said dryly before standing up with a snowball in each hand.

Air Raid whooped and grabbed one out of his hand before throwing it at Slingshot, catching him in the middle of his back. From a little ways away Sideswipe’s shriek and Sunstreaker’s laughter could be heard, and soon enough the red twin came belting back towards Air Raid and Skydive, manic grin on his faceplates, and Sunstreaker didn’t quite stop in time to prevent himself from receiving a snowball to the face (courtesy of Skydive) and another to the side (Air Raid’s aim thrown off a little by Sideswipe brushing past him). Sunstreaker skidded off to a little ways away where Fireflight had a nice pile of snowballs going and Slingshot was bouncing a snowball in his hands, but before anyone could throw anymore Sideswipe waved his hands to accompany a loud whistle.

“Forts!” he called. “We’ve got fifteen minutes to build a fort each, then the real battle can begin!”

Sunstreaker’s optics lit up and he immediately turned around to Fireflight, Silverbolt and Skydive. “We’ve got to try and take each other’s fort, that’s how real snowball fights are done.”

Silverbolt nodded and began directing Fireflight and Skydive to gather snow. Air Raid grabbed Sideswipe. “We’re going to win this.” He pressed his face to the other mechs so he couldn’t be overheard. “And I’m going to give you the best celebration of your life later.”

“I look forward to it babe,” Sideswipe breathed, just as quietly, and leaned forwards to kiss Air Raid briefly before grinning and running off to gather snow for their fort.

For the next fifteen minutes all seven mechs worked diligently to build themselves a wall, a trench, a barrier, plenty of ammunition and hidey holes and hidden spotting points. As soon as Sideswipe declared the truce was over the war began in earnest.

For the next hour they waged their battles, each team wearing down the other’s fort with bombing runs and the catapulting of very large snowballs, Air Raid taking great delight in pelting straight down the middle of the battlefield to take out part of the other team’s fort and Slingshot taking just as much delight in barreling straight into his brother and burying him into the snow. Sideswipe managed to pelt Silverbolt with several snowballs from a vantage point in the air, which earned him several boos, several snowballs of his own and a faux outraged declaration of “Cheater!” from Silverbolt himself.

Fireflight, true to his word, was not good at aiming his shots, so instead he relegated himself to creating the ammunition, dumping as many snowballs as he could into both Sunstreaker and Slingshot’s arms as they blasted out into the open. Skydive seemed to relish smacking both mechs down with the very large snowballs he had Sideswipe help him launch, only to get flattened at one point from a very large snowball to the face by Silverbolt after the gestalt leader managed to sneak unseen right up to the enemy fort while Sunstreaker and Slingshot provided distractions. He was promptly dealt with, laughing as he ran away as best he could from the onslaught of snow, wings twitching in joy.

Due mostly to the uneven numbers between the teams Skydive, Air Raid and Sideswipe had the most damage to their fort, and thus they decided drastic measures were required in order to secure their victory. Skydive came up with the plan and Sideswipe immediately volunteered for the self-sacrificing role with glee. Between fending off Slingshot and, oddly, a run from Silverbolt as well, Air Raid and Skydive armed themselves with as many snowballs as they could, shoving a few at Sideswipe before taking off in opposite directions in their trench.

Sideswipe, in his true flashy fashion, managed to keep the other mechs’ attentions on him as he pelted his twin mercilessly, teased Silverbolt and taunted Slingshot and Fireflight, the former of whom took offense and launched his own bombing run.

Several minutes later after Slingshot returned there was a burst of snow, war cries from Skydive and Air Raid and almost immediately afterwards the outer wall of the enemy fort collapsed, burying Slingshot and Sunstreaker, and Skydive and Air Raid promptly pelted Silverbolt and Fireflight into submission with their impressive armory of snowballs as Sideswipe joined them gleefully, pouncing on his twin.

Laughingly declaring surrender the Aerialbot leader flopped backwards into the snow while Air Raid and Skydive cheered and Sideswipe cackled into his brother’s face, who then shoved the red twin off and faceplanted him into the snow. Slingshot was grumbling as he dug himself out and brushed himself off of the collapsed fort wall, but his wings belied his grumpy mutterings.

Sitting up and leaning back in the snow, a little breathless from laughter, Sideswipe said, “see? Told you you’d love it.”

“It wasn’t horrible,” Slingshot muttered. Skydive shoved him. “Alright fine, _you’re_ not too bad either.”

Fireflight crawled over to Sunstreaker to tuck himself into his side, even if he was still sitting in the snow. “Cold though.”

“Yeah, we need to get warmed up,” Air Raid said, optics on Sideswipe, a knowing smile on his face. The red twin’s grin turned a little devious in response.

“I suppose your wings are a lot more sensitive to the cold,” Sunstreaker mused, wrapping his arms around Fireflight. “I was going to suggest we make snowmen or really bad Decepticon sculptures, but if you guys don’t want to stay out anymore we don’t have to.”

“I’m so making a Screamer snowman so I can shoot his head off,” Slingshot declared.

“I’ll stay if you want to,” Fireflight said. “As long as I can stay here.”

“You’ll need help with your snowcons,” Skydive grinned. “Because you know they have to look stupid too.”

“They absolutely do,” said Sunstreaker, utterly serious. “Remind me to show you stills later of the ones we did a couple years back.”

Sideswipe stood up and shook himself to try and divest as much snow off as he could. “You guys have fun,” he said with a wink, “I’ve got something else just as good to go do.”

Air Raid opened his mouth but Silverbolt beat him to it. “Do not finish that thought Air Raid, not unless you want scrub duty until next week. We all _know_ what he meant. Go away.”

Air Raid cackled, grabbing Sideswipe’s hand. “Going!”

“Have fun, kids!” Sideswipe waved over his shoulder as he and Air Raid made their way back inside the Ark, and he promptly turned to the flyer once they were in the main entrance to brush some more snow off him. “You guys have private washracks, right?”

“Yeah we do,” Air Raid agreed, picking a bit of snow out of Sideswipe’s shoulder. “Got them retrofitted to take wings.”

“Excellent. ‘Cause I think your wings could do with a real good scrub and a bit of a warm up after being outside in the cold. Don’t you?”

“Just like you deserve a thorough clean, and a massage as well,” the flyer stepped in a little closer. “And that celebration I promised you.”

“That sounds rather good to me,” Sideswipe grinned, tucking an arm around Air Raid’s waist and starting to lead them towards the Aerialbots’ suites. “Can’t wait to get my hands on those wings of yours properly, they’ve been teasing me all through that snowball fight.”

“I’ve been doing no such thing,” Air Raid mock protested. “They were just being wings. It’s not my fault you think inappropriate thoughts looking at them.”

“That’s a lie and you know it,” Sideswipe tutted, tapping at a wingtip. “I saw those flicks and I know exactly who they were aimed at.”

“You’re imagining things now. If you’re that desperate to touch them, you could just say you know,” Air Raid grinned.

“Oh now, see, I’m gonna have to punish you for lying to me babe. That’s not nice, you know,” Sideswipe retorted casually.

The wings shivered, the only give away that the casual words and tone were hiding something else. “Punish me for having wings, a feature you find a turn on. How does this sound fair?” They reached the Aerialbots’ quarters and Air Raid put in the code. Sideswipe followed Air Raid inside and almost immediately pressed against his back in a long line, moving his lips to the flyer’s audial.

“Pretty much,” he sing-songed. “Don’t complain, I know you love it.”

“I’m not complaining,” Air Raid protested, voice noticeably catching. “Just stating some facts. Now, we making it to the washracks or are you taking advantage of my wings here?”

“Washracks,” Sideswipe said decisively, crowding Air Raid forwards towards the door. “The water will just add more, and snow makes you a little dirty anyway.”

“Just the snow?” Air Raid asked with a smirk. “Pretty sure I come out of these little get-togethers of ours far dirtier than when I start.” He opened the next door and started the controls for the wash rack. It was easily big enough for two mechs, clearly designed for a sweeping wingspan to turn without fear of clipping the walls. Sideswipe took a moment to shutter his optics as the hot spray hit his chassis, then another one when he reopened them to admire the cascade of droplets that ran down Air Raid’s form. He stepped forward and tilted Air Raid’s chin up with a grin.

“I mean, it’s fine, we’ll just wash again afterwards. Besides, you love every second of it.”

“Never said I didn't want to be dirty,” Air Raid replied, half shuttering his optics, wings flicking under the water. “Do I get to touch you first or have you had enough of my teasing?”

“You can touch me babe. All you want,” Sideswipe replied, leaning down to kiss Air Raid softly. “Remember my rule from last time too, overload whenever you want. I love watching you.”

Air Raid nodded. “I remember. You said if I was good, if I did as I was told, you would give me your spike again.” He pressed another kiss to Sideswipe’s mouth before tugging him under the heavy spray more. “Let me clean you.” The flyer searched around for the right bottle on the wall next to them and produced one before looking up at Sideswipe, wanting and caring mixed together.

“Of course,” Sideswipe said easily, cupping Air Raid’s face before dropping his arms and stepping back slightly. “I’d like that.”

Air Raid squirted some of the contents of the bottle into one palm and then carefully used that to lather up Sideswipe’s helm, lingering over his horns with firm but measured touches. Gradually he worked lower: neck, shoulders, getting more wash when he started running out. “I want to look after you. You’ve looked after me and I need to make sure you’re good, happy.”

“You make me happy,” murmured Sideswipe, shuttering his optics and leaning into the touches with a very pleased noise. “You’re my gorgeous flyer.”

Air Raid started working down one arm until he reached Sideswipe’s hand which he raised to press a kiss to the palm of before dropping it and doing the same to the other arm. Another squirt of wash and then he started on Sideswipe’s chest. “I’m sorry I yelled at you before. I just don’t like being told what to do…” Air Raid faltered before chuckling softly. “I said that wrong. I don’t like feeling like I’m being second guessed, that I don’t know what I’m doing and I took it out on you.”

“I know, babe,” Sideswipe said quietly, a lopsided little smile touching his lips. “I would never second guess your skill, you’re a marvel in the air, I just don’t like the idea of you throwing yourself so needlessly headlong into danger like that. I can’t fault you wanting something on my behalf.” He paused. “At least wait for me next time, we can both be idiots together,” he concluded with a wry laugh.

“Together.” Air Raid nosed upwards so he could kiss Sideswipe, deeper and longer than before, wash temporarily forgotten. He pressed for entry and when Sideswipe granted it, Air Raid moaned a little, hands sliding up his chest to cradle the frontliner’s face between his palms. Sideswipe purred happily, sliding his own hands slowly down Air Raid’s body until they wrapped themselves around his waist, ending with one hand on the flyer’s aft. He smacked it lightly after a moment and broke off the kiss, not really leaving Air Raid’s lips, with bright optics and a slight grin.

“Weren’t you doing something, babe? I seem to recall hands all over me, and rather nice they felt too.”

Air Raid shuddered, hips jerking a little. His hands dropped back to Sidewipe’s chest, as much as he could reach from where they were pressed together. “I was making sure I got your face too,” Air Raid tried, with a grin.

“Oh trust me, you got it good.” Sideswipe kissed him again and moved his hands to sit on Air Raid’s hips. “The rest of me should get just as much of a check over though, don’t you think?”

“I won’t miss an inch,” Air Raid promised roughly. The wash was brought in around Sideswipe’s sides and then down to his hips. “If you let go, I’ll get on my knees.”

Sideswipe’s hands ran up Air Raid’s body using the same trails he’d run down before, stopping at the flyer’s neck where he gave a gentle caress before dropping his hands, and he watched Air Raid with rather intent optics. “Make sure you get everywhere.”

Air Raid dropped to his knees unceremoniously. Intently he cleaned around Sideswipe’s hips, across the front of his pelvic plating, digits tracing the faint seam of the interface panel. He pulled his hands away to start on a thigh, wrapping around it, dragging them lower and completing both before tapping on his lower leg. “Lift it for me.”

Sideswipe tilted to the side slightly so he could balance properly on his other leg and lifted it obediently, plating tingling from the attention and his engine rumbling idly in the background. He was thoroughly enjoying this, not just because it was Air Raid washing him down with quite the focus but he did very much enjoy the simple intimacy of a wash together with a trusted mech. His smile widened a little unconsciously.

After finishing one, Air Raid got Sideswipe to switch to the other leg and once Air Raid was satisfied he looked up at Sideswipe. “Turn around.”

The frontliner turned in a graceful half circle, brushing Air Raid’s face with one hand as he did so. Air Raid smiled, though it turned into something more heated as he dragged his hands up to Sideswipe’s aft, leaning in to plant a wet kiss on it before making sure it was thoroughly cleaned.

Rising to his pedes, Air Raid continued scrubbing Sideswipe down, lingering around the joins for the jetpack. He leant in closer. “Have I done a good enough job?”

Sideswipe shivered appreciatively and leaned back into Air Raid briefly before turning around in his hold. “A wonderful one, gorgeous.” He held his hand out for the washer solution. “Now it’s your turn.”

Air Raid handed it over but stayed holding on to it for a moment, pulling Sideswipe closer with it so he could kiss him again, lingering and slow. His other hand stroked through the bubbles on Sideswipe’s side, which the frontliner caught after a long moment and squeezed at lightly. He did eventually take the bottle properly and break away from Air Raid’s lips but he was hardly in a hurry to do so. Sideswipe lathered up his hands and began, first at Air Raid’s neck and then around his shoulders, slowly and meticulously scrubbing away at every inch of armor. From the shoulders he moved casually down each arm first, massaging his digits in little circles after scouring the armor clean, then he planted a kiss right in the center of Air Raid’s chest before following it with more suds and gentle scrubbing and massaging. He took his time working down Air Raid’s body, touches caring and worshipful and just that little bit teasing, and when he reached the flyer’s pelvis he spent a while just exploring and brushing over sensitive hip joints and a slightly heated interface panel.

Kissing the edge of the panel Sideswipe carried on, making sure every inch of the front of Air Raid was squeaky clean by the time he reached the pedes. Once they were dealt with he stood up, engine idling with a very satisfied sound, and twirled a digit. “Time for your back and wings now.”

Air Raid's optics were nearly shut, engine purring in his chest, relaxed. He slowly turned around, head tipping back slightly and let out a pleased vent. Sideswipe once more started at the Aerial’s neck, massaging and cleansing down shoulders, boosters, waist, aft, thighs and shins, as slow and attentive as he had been with the front. He did linger at Air Raid’s aft, paying it a little more attention, but honestly, who could blame him?

He left the wings until last, making sure everything else was done and clean. They were low and flicking idly, indicative of their owner’s tranquil state, and as Sideswipe sudsed up his hands once more he couldn’t help the surge of appreciation. That he had a thing for wings was just a fact. What made these wings so much better was that they were attached to a gorgeous hot-headed mech who cared just as fiercely about Sideswipe as Sideswipe did about him, and it just made the situation that much better. He started at the top of the wings, one hand for each side, and slowly and painstakingly began to clean. He gently pulled out air brakes to dip underneath them and let the spray rinse it out, he scrubbed down panels with firm, teasing digits, he extended flaps and slats and ailerons to make sure they were all covered, washed down and rinsed out, and then moved his attentions to the nozzle of the large booster running down Air Raid’s back. He cleansed it of soot and charring and residue, and by the time he’d finished everything there wasn’t a speck of dirt anywhere on Air Raid’s form and he glittered from water droplets catching the light. Sideswipe straightened and stood back to admire his handiwork, hands on his hips.

“There,” he said, satisfied. “Perfection.”

Air Raid didn't move. All the time Sideswipe had been touching his wings he'd been letting out little unconscious noises of approval. Somehow Sideswipe had been lulling him into a half recharge state as well as building a low level arousal and Air Raid wanted but he was so relaxed he couldn't bring himself to move. He made a louder, pleased encouraging noise, digits vaguely twitching. Sideswipe stepped back under the spray to press himself against Air Raid’s back, hands sliding down from the flyer’s waist to his hips and then around his interface panel, all the while pressing kisses into the back of Air Raid’s neck.

“Wings feel good, babe? Don’t worry, you’ll wake up pretty soon. I intend to make us both dirty again.”

The flyer let out a low noise, leaning back into Sideswipe. “Always make me feel good. Could do anything to me and I’d feel good.” He lifted a hand to wrap it around the back of Sideswipe’s helm and shuffled his pedes apart to make more room for Sideswipe’s hands. “What do you want me to do? Do anything for you.”

“Just stand there and enjoy yourself,” hummed Sideswipe, toying with the edges of the flyer’s interface panel and rumbling his engine gently against the wings he was pressed into. “Open for me?”

Air Raid obeyed wordlessly, interface panel sliding back under Sideswipe’s digits. His wings tried to press closer to the vibrations and his free hand slid over Sideswipe’s forearm, not pushing for anything more, but holding on. “I need to make sure you’re enjoying yourself. I should be touching you.”

“I’m very much enjoying myself, ‘Raid. I don’t think you realize how good it makes me feel knowing I’m the source of all your pleasure right now.” Sideswipe’s digits ran over the edges of Air Raid’s port, teasing digittips inside it so very briefly and brushing over the node. 

Air Raid’s intakes hitched slightly at the teasing. “You’ve been that for a while,” he admitted. “Even when we fight, I still feel the same way.” He shifted his head to one side so he could twist it round towards Sideswipe, tugging at him. “I knew I wanted you but what you do to me… I’d touch you all the time if I could.”

“So I’m not just a pretty face,” Sideswipe teased, and then left Air Raid’s back to duck under a wing and face him properly, digits almost immediately going back to playing with his interface panel. “You’re more like us, you feel intensely, don’t you?” He leaned forwards to kiss Air Raid gently, one digit starting to sink so very slowly into the waiting valve.

Air Raid whined softly into the kiss, hands clutching at Sideswipe’s upper arms before breaking away, ducking his head to press his face to the frontliner’s shoulder. “No one… I don’t show it. Makes me feel… vulnerable and I… _you_ don’t do that.”

“I want you to feel safe with me,” Sideswipe murmured, pressing kisses to the side of Air Raid’s helm and then moving down slowly over chest and abdominal plates, patterning them with his lips. “I won’t ever judge you, won’t ever laugh at you, won’t make you feel less,” he promised, sealing each one with a loud, firm kiss to Air Raid’s body. “You’re mine.”

Air Raid stared down at Sideswipe. “I… I…” His wings started trembling. “I do. I know you wouldn’t and I’m yours, all of me and I want that for you too, that I will always be enough for you.”

“You are.” Sideswipe dropped to his knees in front of Air Raid and glanced back up, catching his optics with a smile. “Always will be. You challenge me and keep me on my pedetips, you feel as much as I do and you get me like no one but Sunny does.” His hands gripped at Air Raid’s hips then and he leaned forwards to suction his lips over the flyer’s node, sucking lightly and running his glossa over it, optics dimming a little.

That wrenched a startled, pleased cry out of Air Raid, his hands flying to grip Sideswipe’s helm. He arched towards that clever mouth, back bowed out. “Sides!” The other things he meant to say fled his processors in a pumpbeat as he tried to remember not to grip so hard he’d leave marks. Sideswipe’s engine rumbled happily and he twisted his digit as he ran his glossa over the node again and then around the edges of the valve he could reach. He left the valve with his digit slowly, dragging down the walls, and then promptly replaced it with his glossa, dipping in and out of the port and laving it over the node with pleased noises.

Air Raid’s vents were reduced to short, little gasps and pulling his head forward to watch only made it worse. He could see Sideswipe taking pleasure from the act and a rush of lubricant followed as his valve contracted sharply. “Primus you’re going to break me aren’t you?”

“Hopefully,” Sideswipe said, laughter dancing in his optics. “Besides,” he added, returning to his attention, “you taste really good.”

The flyer shuddered. His digits tightened unconsciously and his hips twitched forward before he forcibly controlled himself. “Am I meant to stay standing?” Air Raid asked, gasping at the suction over his node again.

Sideswipe made an affirming noise, too busy focusing on the valve under his mouth, thrusting his glossa into the heat and tracing digits around the rest of his port and the edge of his spike casing. His remaining hand tightened its grip on Air Raid’s hip as he felt the faint tremors through the flyer’s frame, engine rumbling again.

“Try… but you…” Air Raid groaned, hips bucking away. The fact that Sideswipe stopped him just turned the flyer on more and there was another rush of lubricant, valve actively trying to tighten around the glossa. “Both? I… Sides, please.”

“Greedy, aren’t we?” Sideswipe finally said, pulling away slightly to smirk up at Air Raid and lick his lips slowly. He didn’t stay away long, sinking one digit back into the valve up to the knuckle along with his glossa, determined to bring Air Raid to overload just like this and relishing every little sound and movement from the flyer above him.

Air Raid cried out at the feel of something more sinking into him. Unable to move his hips, he curled over the top of Sideswipe’s head, digits digging in harder now as more heat built. It had been a slow thing, starting from the very moment Sideswipe had promised to punish him but now it was racing towards the finish. “Sides, Sides… I need…” A shake started in one leg and he had to lock his servos. If he stayed standing, he’d be good and Sideswipe would reward him. 

The overload was abrupt and Air Raid cried out, valve tightening around the digit and glossa. His grip on Sideswipe’s helm was about all that kept him standing as he shuddered his way through the burn of energy and pleasure. Lost in Air Raid’s cry was the click and hiss of Sideswipe’s own interface panel sliding back and his spike pressurizing almost lazily as he worked his lover through his overload, lubricant dripping down his chin and hand in a lewd sort of decadence. When he was sure it had passed he let Air Raid go with one last good suction to his node and slowly stood up, the flyer’s digits still clenched tightly around his helm. He caught Air Raid up in a kiss as the water began to wash away the evidence.

“Such a good mech for me. You’d let me do anything, wouldn’t you?” Sideswipe brought his hips into Air Raid so the Aerial could feel his spike in a line of heat.

“Yes,” Air Raid agreed readily, still venting hard, hips pressing forward. “Have I been good enough? Can I have your spike?” He lifted one leg, carefully unlocking his servos to curl it around Sideswipe’s hip. “Will you frag me against the wall or do I have to work for it?”

“You sure you want it?” Sideswipe asked, hooking a hand under Air Raid’s thigh and drawing him in closer. “You’ve not had much prep, you’re going to be so very, very tight babe.”

“You’d never hurt me and I’ll feel so good for you,” Air Raid promised, leaning in to brush his lips over Sideswipe’s audial. “I know you loved how tight I felt around your hand. I want to feel every inch of you claiming me.”

“If you’re sure.” Sideswipe crowded Air Raid back a little until he was flush up against the wall underneath the hot jets of water, then lifted the flyer’s leg up just that little bit higher. He nudged his spike up to the edge of Air Raid’s valve, paused, and then slowly began to push in.

It was hard to not just slide in that much quicker because Air Raid’s valve so much tighter and felt so incredibly good around Sideswipe, but he knew that would hurt and so instead he savored every slow inch into a wonderfully tight, slick port, keeping Air Raid’s hips pinned so he could do nothing but take it, slow speed and all. He pressed his chest into Air Raid’s and his mouth to parted lips and he’d never felt so damn good.

Air Raid made a series of little ‘oh’ noises into Sideswipe’s mouth, hands gripping his arms tight enough to dent. It felt like he was being split in two from the slow invasion of his valve and he could have sworn Sideswipe hadn’t felt this big, hot and heavy before. He might have tried to pull away had he not been so tightly pressed between the wall and his lover so instead had to concentrate on the way the spike forced his valve to accommodate it, telling him it belonged there no matter what.

“ _Primus_ Sides… I can't…” Air Raid’s head thudded back against the wall as his valve began rippling in protest.

“You feel so, so good,” Sideswipe said shakily. His hand pressed against the wall next to Air Raid’s waist, digits taut and every part of his frame humming in pleasure. “Tell me stop and I will, but Raid, _Primus_ , you’re so fragging _tight_.”

Air Raid shook his head. “Don’t stop. Feels too good, too much. Yours… yours. Take it.” He managed to pull his head back down to look at Sideswipe and tried to tug at him, hands shaking from the pleasured tension running through him.

And so Sideswipe did. It felt like an age before he finally bottomed out, and he’d never felt a valve so taut around him without any kind of tensing from his partner. He felt like he could have overloaded just from that, the build-up of energy in his systems only getting exacerbated, but he held off. He wanted to use Air Raid’s port first, turn the mech into a puddle of sensation. Still, he stayed buried for a long moment, allowing the valve to get a little more used to him first before he started thrusting shallowly. Initially his movements were slow and measured, but with Air Raid’s reactions and the incredible sensory input from his spike he wasn’t long in picking up speed and depth, despite how tight the flyer still was. He kept half an optic on Air Raid for any kind of pain but most of his world narrowed down to the glide of his spike and increasing his pace.

Air Raid made a desperate choking noise when he felt Sideswipe bottom out, valve tightening down around the spike even when the flyer knew he was meant to try and relax and then Sideswipe started moving. Air Raid felt like he was dying from the amount of signals coming from his port and vaguely knew that Sideswipe would have two perfect handprints on his arms from the strength of his grip but couldn’t let go. That though had no bearing on the words that came tumbling out of his mouth. “ _Please_ I want it, make me take it, use me. Please Sides, please. Frag me.”

Sideswipe snapped his hips up then and his pace picked up and his thrusts became more forceful. He pulled Air Raid’s leg out a little more to get a little deeper while his other hand slid around the flyer’s waist. “Mine,” he growled, his arousal deepening his voice. “My gorgeous flyer to do with as I want. My little spike slut. You’re still gonna feel me in the morning and you’re gonna love it and know just how much of a slut for me you are.”

Air Raid screamed, hips trying to buck against their captor and he had all control ripped away from him. His valve spasmed, somehow both trying to relax to allow Sideswipe in deeper and tightening in protest. Sideswipe’s words caused a hot flush of arousal, lubricant now dripping steadily from Air Raid’s port. “ _Yes_ , yours, your slut. I’ll beg for it. I promise I’ll be good. _Please_.”

Sideswipe pushed up with his spike sharply as he tugged Air Raid’s hips down and he kept himself there, fully buried, while his lips brushed over Air Raid’s. “Then beg,” he hissed. “I want to hear your pretty whore mouth beg for overload, I want it to beg for more, tell me what you want, tell me how you feel. Beg for me, ‘Raid.”

Air Raid sobbed when Sideswipe stopped moving. “No, no, please, don’t stop, please. I want it so bad. I want to be fragged so much I can’t sit or walk and everyone will know I’ll spread my legs for you whenever you need to use my valve. _Please_. Leave me open and dripping and desperate and use me when you want to overload, again and again. I don’t need to leave your berth. I can stay there for you. I’ll always be ready for you.” Air Raid knew he was babbling but he was so desperate for Sideswipe to move again he would do anything for it.

“Such a dirty mouth for such a pretty slut,” Sideswipe cooed, but rewarded Air Raid nonetheless with a fierce, deep resumption of his hips, snapping in and out and in and out of the flyer’s valve. It had loosened a little now and wasn’t quite as tight, especially with the added lubricants, but it was hot and wet and welcoming and Sideswipe couldn’t get enough of it. He sealed his lips over Air Raid’s, demanding entrance immediately and plundering his mouth almost in time with his thrusts, swallowing every noise Air Raid made.

The flyer could feel his overload building, ramping up with every thrust and could do nothing to even try to hold onto it. Sideswipe had already told him to overload whenever he wanted and the free reign took all control away. He whined desperately into Sideswipe’s mouth, pliant to the demands of the kiss and spike and accidentally caught the edge of Sideswipe’s glossa with his denta as his overload rocked through him, tightening everything in his body. His valve tightened back up like a vice around the spike as Air Raid choked out a scream, still trying to kiss Sideswipe even as he did so. The rush of energy from his lover was Sideswipe’s undoing and he drove himself upwards into Air Raid’s valve , emptying himself of transfluid with a slightly hoarse cry, breaking off their kiss and tightening his digits under the flyer’s thigh. He rode the waves of his own overload, but barely let them finish before he abruptly pulled out of Air Raid’s body unceremoniously and briefly grabbed the Aerial’s chin.

“Turn around, put your hands against the wall and bend over,” he demanded sharply, “and spread your legs.”

Air Raid hurried to obey, legs shaking from his overload and he nearly tipped over at one point. He curled a hand around a pipe for balance as he backed himself up enough to have room to bend over, legs spreading. He knew what he looked like, valve dripping transfluid, swollen and slick from use and he dipped his back a little, presenting himself. “Sides, please. I feel so _empty_. I need your spike so bad.”

Sideswipe’s engine revved at the sight and he drank it in for several long seconds. “Do you, now?” he mused, and then he brought his hand across Air Raid’s aft in a sharp smack before pressing himself into the waiting valve in one motion, not gentle with his spike this time. “Good thing I want your valve then, isn’t it?” His pace was immediately hard and fast and one hand tugged at the edge of a wing while the other wrapped around the flyer’s waist to press hard at the node. “Fill it up over and over and leave you dripping and begging and shaking.”

Air Raid’s cry was sharp at the smack, only growing in volume as Sideswipe took him again. He shuddered and trembled under Sideswipe, hips tilting under the assault to allow him deeper. “If… if I deserve it…” he gasped. “Have to be good… for you.” He could feel Sideswipe driving the transfluid deeper into his port and his valve was welcoming him now, letting Air Raid be used. Like this the flyer felt like even more of a whore than he had done before, knowing he had room to move, to pull away and all he wanted to do was get fragged harder and deeper.

“Well if you’re not just remember I can take away my permission to overload at any time,” Sideswipe purred, pulling Air Raid’s hips into him every time he pounded into the eager valve and pressing at the node every time he pulled back out. “And then where would you be?”

“I would do it. Whatever you said!” Air Raid gasped. “I would, I promise.” The hand wrapped around the pipe was starting to bend it and he dropped his other hand to wrap around Sideswipe’s arm around his waist. “Use me for your overload. Have to deserve mine.”

“Trust me, I’m using your little whore valve.” Sideswipe pulled Air Raid’s hand from his wrist and brought it down to splay the digits around where they were joined, letting Air Raid feel Sideswipe sliding past both his digits and the folds of his valve. He partially interlocked their digits but with one of his free ones he started teasing it, testing it by dipping into the edge of the port alongside his spike. The resultant shudder from Air Raid also caused his digits to clench, and between the valve, the digits and the Aerial’s utter pliancy Sideswipe overloaded once more, stopping only briefly to empty his transfluid in Air Raid’s valve before carrying on dragging his sensitized spike in and out of dripping, claimed heat.

“ _Sides_ ,” Air Raid pleaded. “Please, I need… tell me, please.” His own overload was hovering on the brink, brought there by the teasing and the full feeling of his valve. He could feel the heavy mix of lubricant and transfluid trailing down his thighs, catching on his digits splayed around his own valve and he felt so used and dirty. He felt amazing but so desperate for his overload.

“I haven’t rescinded your permission,” Sideswipe bit out, voice crackling from excess static. “I’ll be fragging you right through it though.”

Air Raid sobbed, body hitching under Sideswipe, as the overload ripped through him. Systems crashed out and he struggled to stay upright, legs shaking. The pipe under his hand cracked, water spraying up over the wall. His valve tightened up around Sideswipe’s spike, even wetter than before. “ _Please!_ ”

Sideswipe took Air Raid’s chin in his free hand and tipped his helm back, making his shoulders and back go completely taut, just shy of hurting. “Please what, slut? Use me? Fill me? Make it so I can’t _walk_ tomorrow?” Sideswipe punctuated his words with a couple of particularly damning thrusts and withdrew his vaguely teasing digit from Air Raid’s valve only to start pressing one of the flyer’s own digits in instead. “Feel that? Feel how well you take it?”

Air Raid’s free hand latched onto Sideswipe’s wrist under his chin, letting go of the wall so he was completely submitting to Sideswipe. “Yes, yes. I was made to take spike, your spike. Please, please. I’m such a whore. It’s all I’m good for.” The flyer’s next overload was screaming up on him fast and he was shaking more now, relying on Sideswipe’s grip to hold him upright.

Sensitized as he was, Sideswipe's systems hadn’t really cooled down from their last surge, and his fans were screaming as they tried to cool him down from both his overloads and the spray still jetting down over the two of them. He paused only to make sure he was balanced properly, but this time when he started taking Air Raid’s valve again his thrusts were slower, much more deliberate, deep and hard. His engine revved loudly, the vibrations traveling right through his chassis, and his arousal and surge skyrocketed again. Releasing Air Raid’s hand on his valve Sideswipe brought it up instead to place it right in the middle of the Aerial’s wings, flexing his digits.

“You ready to go together?” he asked, voice staticky.

Air Raid’s hand tightened around Sideswipe’s wrist. “Please.” His other hand remained where it had been put but he pushed a little bit deeper with the digit, wanting to feel the spike pushing past it into his valve. “I’m yours.”

Sideswipe waited a few more thrusts but eventually activated his piledriver systems and thundered a shockwave through Air Raid’s wings and frame, that leeched through him as well with more than enough intensity for him to stutter into overload again with a loud, static-filled cry of Air Raid’s name, leaving him with barely enough processing power to still his spike inside the flyer’s valve and keep a hold of his chin to stay them both. It was just as intense, if not quite as powerful, as his previous overloads, and he was exceptionally glad of his reserve power right at that moment.

Air Raid did not have that reserve. The moment Sideswipe activated his piledrivers the flyer had screamed his name, vocalizer glitching, overloaded and crashed out. He was dimly aware of Sideswipe overloading, his valve finding the energy to cling to the spike within it but his limbs felt like lead and his optics were barely lit from utter exhaustion. He lost his grip on Sideswipe and his knees crumpled so only the red mech’s grip stopped him from hitting the floor. Sideswipe took a moment to calm himself and his systems down a little, then he carefully pulled out of Air Raid’s body and helped the flyer into a seated position on the floor, tucked into his chassis as close as they could get. He peppered kisses across Air Raid’s shoulders anywhere he could reach.

“So good, my gorgeous flyer, you’re beautiful and amazing,” he murmured just in audio range. “How are you doing, babe?”

Air Raid made a vague, positive noise, turning his head to nuzzle into Sideswipe more, still limp and heavy. Most systems had started running low power state mode and Air Raid was so tired and _satisfied_ he couldn’t find anything in him to move. He tried to talk but just let out a buzz of static instead. Sideswipe snickered lightly, kissed Air Raid on the lips and then began to properly rinse them off, turning the jets to face them and cleaning Air Raid’s thighs and pelvis before doing his own, encouraging the flyer to close his interface panel and then looking over at the dryers with a thoughtful expression.

Turning the jets off and leaving the cracked pipe to spurt its remaining pressurized water fitfully, Sideswipe gathered Air Raid up, one arm under his knees and the other across his back and under his arms, and took them both to stand under the blasts of warm air to dry off.

“Mind if I stay with you?”

Air Raid mumbled another positive noise, tucking his face up into Sideswipe’s neck. The warm air wasn’t helping him to stay awake, as little as he was right now, but part of him was still keyed into Sideswipe. He was still awake, talking, looking after Air Raid that he needed to stay online in case he needed him. Sideswipe smiled through his own fatigue, kept them under until he was satisfied they were dry enough, and then they left the washracks to head into Air Raid’s room, where Sideswipe settled them both into their usual recharge positions, him on his back and Air Raid on his front, helm pillowed in the red twin’s chestplates, and Sideswipe started stroking gently up and down Air Raid’s wings.

“Recharge babe, you need it. I’ll still be here when you wake up, I promise.”

Air Raid snuggled down into him more, body going limp under Sideswipe’s touches. He found his voice, hoarse and static ladened, enough to say, “Good.” And then he was in recharge. Sideswipe sat and listened to his lover’s systems for a while, drowsy and warm and cozy, before he too fell into a light recharge, the hand on Air Raid’s wings stopping and flattening comfortably. Primus but this mech was everything he’d never known he’d wanted.

  
  


-x-

  
  


It was the worst kept secret on the Ark that Sideswipe was a talented - if amateur - high-grade brewer, and that he had a quasi-illegal brewery set up in the room originally assigned out for Sunstreaker. The yellow frontliner had only really recently started capitalizing on that claim for his trysts with Fireflight, and even then it wasn’t often. Most of the time they were back in the Aerials’ suites, especially now that the twins had started recharging separately more and more.

Sideswipe honestly had never expected to be comfortable recharging away from his brother, but he was as long as he knew where Sunstreaker was and that he himself was recharging with Air Raid instead. He didn’t deal well with recharging alone and the first time Sunstreaker had done it without Sideswipe having a frame to curl up with it had ended up not being his best of nights. However despite Sunstreaker’s protests Sideswipe had encouraged the sleepovers, knowing that he’d have to get used to it at some point or another.

At least until Air Raid came along.

Thus one afternoon he’d bounced up to his favorite mech and asked if he’d be up for playing taste-tester for some of Sideswipe’s experimental high-grade flavors. Air Raid promptly agreed with an enthusiastic, “frag yeah!” and so that evening, after all their shifts and training had been and gone, the two of them were sat in the brewery, Air Raid with a tiny cube of high-grade and Sideswipe with a clipboard and stylus.

“I have no idea what flavors you like,” the red mech was saying as he tapped the end of his stylus absently on the table in front of him, “but I figured we’d start off milder. I reckon you’re a little like Sunny and like the sharper tastes.”

Air Raid grinned. “Yeah and anything with a kick to it, but I’ll try anything at least twice.”

“A spicy mech huh? I can work with that, that’s my favorite area too.” Sideswipe reached behind him to grab another couple of little cubes. “Of course I have some sweet ones here too. Try it,” he added, nodding at the cube in Air Raid’s hands when he turned back around, “tell me what you think.”

Air Raid took a healthy swallow, clearly trusting Sideswipe not to give him something vile and then look thoughtful. “It’s alright. You’re right, it is sharper at the end but I reckon I’d just drink it without noticing it that much.” He held out his hand for the next one. 

“So an easy drinker, good for going down quickly and getting mechs drunk fast.” Sideswipe wrote a few glyphs down on his pad and then passed over the next cube. “This one had a really really long refining period, much slower than I normally do it, so it should be really sharp.”

Air Raid took another sample and pulled a face, wings twitching. “I like that, but I don’t think it’s for everyone.” He had another mouthful and exactly the same thing happened. Sideswipe hid his chuckle badly behind one hand and made another note on his pad.

“One for the mixers table then, that’s Sunny’s domain more than mine.” Sideswipe lifted the next cube and waggled it lightly with a grin. “This is my favorite mix, radon and arsenic. See what you think. It’s spicy.”

Air Raid slid his digits over Sideswipe’s as he took it, grinning. The mouthful he took this time was slower, savoring it just because it was Sideswipe’s favorite. “I can feel that going down. It’s really warming.” He smirked. “That’d work after a snowball fight, amongst other things.” He shuffled closer. “What else you got? Anything else that feels that good sliding down?”

“Oh I’m sure I can think of a couple more,” said Sideswipe airily, gesturing towards where another small cube was slowly filling up. “By the way, have you fixed that pipe you broke yet?”

Air Raid had started to look over at the cube but his head shot back to Sideswipe at his question. “ _I_ broke? And you had _nothing_ to do with it right? I should make you pay for it, not me.” He stood up and headed over to the cube. “There’s enough in here to try.”

“I’m not the one who broke it.” Sideswipe made a tutting noise. “Sit your aft back down and behave, it’s not done yet. You won’t get any more unless you’re good.”

Air Raid froze, clearly noticeable as he’d been reaching for the cube. He rapidly backed away from the other table, back to his seat. “I’m sorry, I’ll be good, I promise.”

Sideswipe sat and blinked for a couple of seconds, then leaned over and took Air Raid’s hand, a look of slight concern marring his features. “I... babe, it’s alright, I was kidding. Are you okay?”

Air Raid shuddered, letting out a vent. “I didn’t mean to. That phrasing, it just…” He shuttered his optics for a moment before opening them and looking up at Sideswipe. “It’s why I don’t give my trust easily. I can headspace so easily when I trust someone. I’d do anything you’d ask.”

Sideswipe’s optics widened then. “I... I had no idea. Thank Primus I didn’t say anything like that in public, or haven’t up till this point.” He reached up and placed his palm on Air Raid’s cheek. “You’re afraid you’d get taken advantage of. That... makes sense.” He paused, thinking. “Is it just me? Just my voice you’d react to like that?”

Air Raid nodded. “I think so. I’d hoped that you’d be able to handle this, to look after me when I get like that and you’ve kinda blown that out the water. Your voice, certain phrases, the right tone. You could drop me anywhere if that was any indication.”

“I didn’t know I could do that to you.” Sideswipe brought his hand around to brush over Air Raid’s lips, then followed them with his mouth. “I promise you I will do my utmost to never do that to you in public. I might slip up though, but I will do my damnedest not to. I said I’d look after you and that’s exactly what I intend to do.”

“I know. It takes practice and you’ll look after me.” Air Raid pressed another kiss to Sideswipe’s mouth before dropping his helm to his shoulder. “Primus, I don’t deserve you. I don’t know how I got so lucky and… and… _frag_ … you have my consent to do that. I know you won’t take advantage of it, but I won’t have you feeling guilty for a mistake.”

“Thank you.” Sideswipe pressed a couple of kisses into the side of Air Raid’s helm, then a couple more, and then began peppering them all over the flyer’s helm and face and neck until Air Raid was pushing him away with a growing smile. Sideswipe’s own lips turned upwards in response and he nodded towards the small cube now full and waiting patiently. “I think that one’s yours. You’ve been _good_ enough for it.” He lifted one of Air Raid’s hands and brought a couple of the digittips to his lips.

Air Raid shuddered. “Be careful with this new found power or I’ll get myself done for dereliction of duty when I claim your berth and serve only you.” He rang his digits lightly over Sideswipe’s lips, expression heated.

“You’re so gorgeous though,” Sideswipe grinned, leaning into Air Raid’s hand. “You could always blame it on the high-grade too.”

“Oh no, you deserve all the credit. After all, I don’t beg anyone else,” Air Raid told him before leaning back in to kiss Sideswipe, slow but deep. Sideswipe hummed in acknowledgement, the hand still holding Air Raid’s interlacing their digits while the other settled on a knee. Eventually he ended their kiss with several shorter chaster ones but didn’t go far.

“I should hope not,” he murmured. “Primus but you are stunning.”

Air Raid smiled. “And you’re far more than just a pretty face,” he teased.

“My life’s dream has been realized,” replied Sideswipe dramatically with a sweeping gesture. “Now, what do you say we get drunk on tiny cubes of high-grade?”

“I’m ready for that,” Air Raid agreed. “With you.”

“Wicked.”

  
  


-x-

  
  


“I can feel you thinking from here, and it’s distracting.”

Sideswipe started from where he’d been reading the same line of his report pad over and over for Primus only knew how long. He groaned and dropped the pad onto his chest and raised his optics to meet identical violet ones looking down at him appraisingly. He was laid across Sunstreaker’s legs on his back while he finished reading through a requisition pad Prowl had given him and Sunstreaker had commandeered the middle of the berth to read a bookfile, some human literature that was apparently some of the best the fantasy genre had to offer here on Earth.

“It’s called ‘The Silmarillion’,” added Sunstreaker waspishly, smacking his twin across the helm with his file, clearly having picked up on Sideswipe’s stray thought, “and it’s a really good read if you’d ever get your head out your aft.”

“Yeah, thanks Sunshine, I’ll do that,” replied Sideswipe dryly, swatting at the bookfile when Sunstreaker made to do it again. The golden twin huffed and sat back, having not taken his optics off his brother.

“Something’s bothering you,” he said bluntly. “Spill.”

Sideswipe was silent for a long moment, turning off his pad and shifting his weight around to find a comfier spot - when he said Sunstreaker had taken the middle of the berth he really meant the entire thing - before he settled and stared at the ceiling.

“I don’t even know...” he started, then pursed his lips. “Can I ask you some personal things?”

“You’re my twin, Sides, you can ask me whatever the frag you want. Since when have you ever needed permission anyway?” 

Sunstreaker had raised an optic ridge at him - he could see it in his periphery - and Sideswipe sighed. “Do you ever say ‘no’ to Fireflight?”

“‘Course I do. Not often, but I do.”

“Even during interfacing?”

Sunstreaker shrugged slightly. “Never had a reason to, so no, I’ve never said no to him then.”

Sideswipe dragged his gaze from the ceiling to his twin. “And you like not being dominant, right? You like Fireflight taking that role?”

“For the most part, but we do switch it up sometimes. Why are you asking?”

“So, Fireflight couldn’t just... turn you into an obedient little mech with a single word? Make you subservient with a certain tone or phrase?”

“No, Sides, I’m not that kind of mech.” Sunstreaker put down his bookfile entirely this time and gave his full attention over to his twin. “Is this about Air Raid?”

“Yeah.” Sideswipe ex-vented slowly. “I had no idea what all of this meant for him until a few days ago. What he’s given me... it’s a gift to be sure, but now I’ve got to be careful with what I say around him or to him in public from now on.”

“That’ll come with practice,” Sunstreaker replied immediately, leaning back. “You’ve talked to him about this?”

“Yeah. I just... wondered if you had any thoughts or anything.”

“Why, because I’m a needy little sub?” Sunstreaker retorted, amused.

“Pretty much, yeah.”

“Slagaft.”

“You love me and you know it.”

Sunstreaker biffed his brother in the face with a pillow and then thought for a moment. “Honestly Sides, I don’t think I’ve really got anything to add. The most important things are to make sure ‘Raid knows he’s got total control and that you’re a safe mech. Fireflight might be the one telling me what to do but I know I hold all the cards, that all I have to do is say something and he’ll stop whatever he’s doing. That he _will_ stop is important and part of the whole ‘safe mech’ thing.”

“I get that, but... sometimes with how Air Raid gets I wonder if he ever would say ‘stop’. I only hope he will, and I try not to push him too far and I always give him an out, but still.” Sideswipe shuttered his optics.

“Then you’re giving him exactly the kind of control he needs,” Sunstreaker pointed out. “And even if he doesn’t say ‘no’ but you think it’s getting out of hand then you have the power to say ‘no’ too. Just because you’re not the one _with_ the controls doesn’t mean you can’t be the one _in_ control.”

“Alright,” Sideswipe acknowledged, “but what about outside an intimate setting? If he’s getting in over his head and just digging himself deeper?”

“Then that’s between you and him. I can’t speak for him.” Sunstreaker folded his arms across his chest. “Let’s say Fireflight did have that kind of dominance over me and I was doing something really fragging stupid like... I dunno, egging Menasor on to try and crush me or some such idiotic slag. If Fireflight dragged me out of there by using that word or phrase or whatever would I be angry? Yeah, I’d be furious, but probably not for long. ‘Flight saw me endangering myself for no good reason and not listening to anyone else, and if I didn’t already know what a fragging stupid idea that was in the fragging first place then once he told me why I might not be so mad.” The frontliner lifted and dropped his shoulders. “Like I said, that’s just me though. I can’t speak for Air Raid.”

“I mean, he’s already told me I have his consent to do that in public because I may very well slip up accidentally and he told me he didn’t want me feeling guilty over it, but I don’t know if that extends anywhere else.”

“Then you’re gonna have to talk to him about it.”

Sideswipe sat quietly and mulled over Sunstreaker’s words for several long minutes. “So essentially,” he said eventually, “you’re saying I should just keep doing what I’ve been doing but just be mindful of his own limits when he isn’t necessarily mindful of them himself?”

“Basically.” Sunstreaker lowered his arms again. “Care for him, talk to him about things you don’t understand or don’t know, that’s about the gist of it.”

“Alright. I just hope I never accidentally abuse this.”

“That you’re worried about it already speaks volumes. Look, Sides, coming from me I’d far rather have someone who’s not quite sure what they’re doing and questioning things to make sure they’re doing it right than someone who thinks they know what they’re doing and don’t. The ones who think they do are the ones who think this whole scenario is a... how do those organics put it? One size fits all deal? And that’s absolutely not how it works.” Sunstreaker flattened his hand and moved it upwards in an arc. “It’s a learning curve, for both of you. If it helps, from what I hear you’re pretty natural at it anyway so I really honestly wouldn’t worry about it.”

“I suppose so,” Sideswipe mused.

Sunstreaker rolled his optics. “You took care of us growing up, Sides, trust me when I say you are a natural carer.”

“Aww, Sunshine, you’re so sweet.”

Sunstreaker clonked his brother up the side of the helm. “I’m being serious!”

“So was I,” Sideswipe groused. Nonetheless he took one of his twin’s hands and clutched it both of his own. “Thanks, Sunny.”

“Always.” Sunstreaker picked up his bookfile again and bopped Sideswipe on the nose with it. “Now shush, I was getting to a good bit.”

  
  


-x-

  
  


No one would be able to tell simply by looking (and the twins didn’t exactly talk about it) that Sideswipe and Sunstreaker had a flyer for a creator. That they spent an inordinate amount of time in the air for mechs that didn’t fly themselves was clear to anyone who knew them for more than a day, but aside from Ratchet or anyone they’d told personally no one actually knew their heritage.

Not that Sideswipe or Sunstreaker were ashamed of it by any means, if anything they were rather proud of their coding, but it wasn’t pertinent for most mechs to know. There was enough stigma around them being twins, they didn’t want any added perceived reproach coming from a mixed background as well.

As it was, their coding was why Sideswipe had been able to get his jetpack to work so seamlessly and efficiently with his systems. Grounder mechs could, for the most part, get jetpacks for themselves if they truly wanted to fly some, but it involved a lot of hassle, surgeries, additional kibble and coding that may or may not mesh well with their baselines, potential rearranging of parts and an inability to transform whilst wearing it. Sideswipe had none of those problems as the potential had already been there. Dormant coding was activated, the sensory connections were put in on his back and his transformation incorporated it without anything additional being needed or taken away. Ratchet had marveled at how well it had all come together when he’d finished the work, and was still rather enamored with how well it had held up.

Sunstreaker tried to have a jetpack fitted as well, but ultimately, unlike Sideswipe, he would have at least had to rearrange some of his parts and add a little more kibble, though the dormant coding was there and perfectly usable. It was vanity in the end that prevented Sunstreaker from getting a jetpack of his own, an unwillingness to change his frame and parts of his substructure. Sideswipe never faulted him for it and never would. It was a choice, after all, and not one that Sunstreaker had made lightly.

The best and most strategically significant thing about Sideswipe’s jetpack though was that it ran on hydrogen as a fuel, not energon. In emergencies it could, if patched directly into one of Sideswipe’s main energon tanks, but it burned through energon insanely quickly. One of Sideswipe’s standard tanks, full to capacity, could provide him with maybe two minutes’ worth of flight if he was really lucky. The tank of hydrogen inside his pack, though, could sustain him for over eight hours of flight time, and unlike energon hydrogen wasn’t rationed. He was cautioned against using his fuel recklessly, and he didn’t for the most part, but it wasn’t like he couldn’t refill himself afterwards.

To that end he sometimes went out on nice, clear days with little wind when he didn’t have a shift or anywhere else to be, strapped on his jetpack and just flew around the Ark and its immediate surrounding areas. True he couldn’t go particularly high with his jetpack, and he wasn’t quite as graceful as natural flyers in their root mode, but he was perfectly happy with that because flying was freedom regardless of the limitations.

Today was one of those days where he just wanted to scratch the itch and let loose a little, and it was perfect flying weather. The sky was clouded over but it was dry, warm, and still pretty bright with only a light intermittent breeze. Sideswipe barely waited until he was out the front entrance of the Ark before he launched himself into the air with a whoop of joy. He spiralled upwards until he was well above the mountain around the Ark, where he stopped and hovered with a grin, drinking in the view so many grounders just couldn’t see.

He tipped backwards and hurtled back towards the ground, pulling out of the dive only just before hitting the floor and skimming across the ground. Rising through the air again he began to circle widely right around the mountain, arms out to appreciate the rush of cool air over his plating while he dipped around treetops and birds.

He was out for a good half an hour playing, corkscrewing, diving, rolling, spiralling, circling, looping and generally just riding the wind before he realized he wasn’t the only one in the air anymore, and he pulled up short from a whiplash move as he found himself face-to-face with the Aerialbots, all of whom were hovering in root mode with varying expressions of surprise.

“Hey guys!” Sideswipe greeted cheerily, flaring his pack to steady himself and waving. “Hi babe! Come to enjoy the weather too?”

Air Raid zoomed in closer, giving Sideswipe a brief kiss but far more interested in swinging round behind him to check out the jetpack. Obviously he’d seen it before but had never had the chance to check it out up close. That obviously meant he had to touch too.

“Somewhere between that, training and peace and quiet, but I think I’ll scratch the last one now,” Silverbolt replied, amused as Fireflight waved back and followed Air Raid over, though he didn’t get as close.

“I’d say sorry, but I’m not,” laughed Sideswipe. “Don’t let me stop you training though.” He leaned back a little, shifting his weight to stay balanced as he felt curious digits over the pack, muted as the sensation was. “It’s clunky in comparison to you guys.”

“Not entirely sure I can get everyone to train now,” Silverbolt said meaningfully, optics on Air Raid.

“Maybe but I like seeing you up here,” Air Raid told him, pressing in a little closer, mindful of the jets. “Seems I got myself a mech that can do anything.”

“I wouldn’t go that far, but I am pretty great,” Sideswipe grinned. He reached behind him and patted at Air Raid’s thigh. “Why don’t I join in for a little while then? See if there’s anything you guys do that would take advantage of me, or that I can take advantage of.”

“I know what you can take advantage of,” Air Raid leered to a chorus of groans from the others, bar Fireflight who was grinning at his brother like he completely got it.

“Can we sling shot him?” Fireflight asked, glancing back at Skydive.

“That’s a lot of G’s,” Skydive replied, instantly cottoning on.

“Oh come on, we’ve seen them jump off slagging Seekers who are trying to sideslip them,” Slingshot dismissed. “And like he’d say no.”

“Sounds like a ride!” Sideswipe tweaked the edge of one of Air Raid’s wings in amused admonishment. “And you, hush. You’re terrible.” 

“The worst,” Air Raid agreed before tilting his head slightly. “You’re coming with me.” He let go of Sideswipe, backing up enough to transform and pull in alongside him again. Sideswipe’s optics lit up and a gleeful expression crossed his features.

“I’ve always wanted to see if any of you could carry me or Sunny. You sure, ‘Raid?”

- _Get over here and ride me. It’ll make a change._ -

- _Oh babe, I’m game if you are,_ \- Sideswipe returned cheekily. He swung around and blasted up a few feet above Air Raid, then cut his jetpack and landed more gracefully than his frame would suggest on the Aerial’s back, pedes automatically shifting to balance himself out and find the best holds. Once secure he patted at Air Raid’s canopy. “You’ll have to tell me the best places to hold on without hurting you, I don’t pay attention to the ‘not hurting’ part when I’m on a Seeker,” he added out loud.

Air Raid dipped under the weight initially before levelling out, aware of the curious optics of the others. - _Feels like I should be fine, but it’s not a long term thing. Not sure ‘Shot could. And you know exactly where you can touch me._ -

“Sunny’s heavier isn’t he?” Fireflight asked. “That makes me sad. I don’t know if I could carry him but I want to try.”

“Not by too much, but he is,” Sideswipe agreed, before smacking Air Raid gently on the cockpit and leaning down to hook his digits under the vents on either side of it. - _Get your head out of the gutter gorgeous, honestly. Some mechs are insatiable._ \- “He’s willing to try it, and if it doesn’t work, well, he’s had lots of experience falling off jets.”

- _Can’t imagine why._ \- Air Raid commented.

Fireflight nodded but by then Skydive had come over closer to explain. “So the idea is Air Raid will slipstream off us, so make yourself as small and aerodynamic as possible. When we reach maximum speed, we break away, Air Raid rams on his air brakes as you let go. Check your speedometer to see if we get you a new top speed.”

Sideswipe made a delighted ‘ooo’ing noise and promptly began carefully flattening himself to Air Raid’s chassis, working out the best way to situate himself without disrupting the jet’s flight capabilities too much whilst still allowing him to quickly let go. “Considering how slow my jetpack is in comparison I reckon that’s an easy sell. Sounds like a blast!”

“You’re alright with that level of G’s?” Silverbolt asked, a note of concern in his voice. “Too much will make you pass out unless you can stop the backflow of energon.”

“I think I’ll be fine. I’ve never had problems before, and I don’t think my coding will have any problems with this.” Sideswipe’s grin softened a little. “Don’t worry, ‘Bolt.”

“I’m not dealing with Ratchet if you do,” Silverbolt replied with a warning but a smile as well. The rest of the team started transforming around them until there were four more jets in the air around them. - _Skydive and I will lead Air Raid out as we have the speed and size to give you the best slipstream._ -

- _He’s dealt with far stupider stunts than this from me._ \- Sideswipe lowered his body fully into place against Air Raid’s back and readied himself. - _Alright, let’s go!_ -

Fireflight and Slingshot zipped off to one side, flying a curve to get ahead of them, to where they thought Sideswipe might end up. Silverbolt and Skydive moved into place ahead of Air Raid, so close that Sideswipe could have touched them if he reached for them. The pair flew wingtip to wingtip, Air Raid directly behind them and all three set off at some silent signal, gradually increasing their speed.

- _This good?_ \- Air Raid asked.

- _More than, babe_ ,- Sideswipe returned happily, opening his bond out to Sunstreaker so he could join in the fun. - _I trust you._ -

The speed picked up until they hit Silverbolt’s top speed of Mach 3.8, long having left the Ark behind. - _Get ready,_ \- Air Raid warned. - _In three, two, one!_ -

At one, Silverbolt and Skydive peeled off in opposite directions and a split second later Air Raid slammed on all of his air brakes, decelerating fast. Attuned to decelerations from his own drops and blasts of his jetpack Sideswipe loosened his hold as soon as Air Raid hit ‘two’ and let go entirely when the jet hit his brakes. He shot forwards with a whoop entirely lost in the rapid torrent of air blasting past him, but Sunstreaker heard it loud and clear. As promised the number of G’s didn’t faze him in the slightest, but he’d also never ever gone this fast before and it was terrifying and exhilarating and incredible and Sideswipe loved every second of it.

As soon as he was launched forwards he brought his speedometer up on his HUD and watched with a thrill as it shot upwards past anything he’d ever achieved. He waited until he’d slowed enough that he could concentrate on something other than the sensations blasting through him to open up his comm. - _4483! New record! Primus, that’s amazing!_ -

- _Wanna go faster?_ \- Air Raid asked, having caught Sideswipe up again. The red twin felt himself slowing rapidly now, and he waited until he was slow enough that he could activate his jetpack and start circling to decrease the rest of his speed down to normal.

- _Can you? I thought Silverbolt was fastest. If you can I’m absolutely up for it!_ -

- _Skydive is, then me, then ‘Flight, then ‘Bolt._ \- Air Raid replied, a little proudly. - _My max is Mach 5. I don’t know if I can do that with you, but I should be able to go faster than 4.4. When it’s a safe speed, get back on and we’ll try._ -

Sideswipe finally managed to slow himself to his standard speed and then slide to a halt in the air. He came back up to Air Raid and pressed a kiss to his nosecone and then dropped, as before, onto his back. His landing was perhaps a little wobblier than before from the rush still in his systems but no less graceful and he patted at Air Raid’s cockpit.

- _Awesome. Alright, I’m ready to try that again. Primus, can you imagine doing this and launching me right into a Seeker? Or a gestalt, even? I’d knock them on their aft if I don’t just smash right through them._ -

- _If the impact didn’t hurt you._ \- Air Raid replied, concern clear. - _I’d want to test it on something first, to make sure you’d be alright._ \- He began picking up speed again, steadily climbing in height as Sideswipe had dropped a fair way in his slingshot manoeuver. 

- _Oh at this speed it’d cause a fair bit of damage to my armor,_ \- Sideswipe admitted easily, - _if not outright take some of it off or shatter it. I wouldn’t suggest we actually try it, not at these speeds anyway. I can take hitting solid ground at terminal velocity, this is past the speed of sound._ -

- _I’ll take throwing you at someone at terminal velocity then,_ \- Air Raid told him. They were back up to the speed they had got to before they had tried slingshotting Sideswipe and Air Raid levelled out.

- _That sounds like a much better plan_.- Sideswipe readied himself against Air Raid’s back. - _Alright gorgeous, hit me!_ -

Air Raid began pushing now. The step up to Mach 4 was easy and then there was a steady rate of increase up to 4.5. - _Watch your speedometer._ \- There was a definite engine note change as Air Raid tried for more speed and he throttled back to 4.5 again. - _I’m going to have to cheat. Hang on._ \- He swung a wing up slightly and sent himself into a steep dive, easily flashing them up to Mach 5 without having to fight gravity.

Again Sideswipe’s delighted laughter was lost entirely before it even left his vocalizer, hands digging into their holds with a practiced grip more than hard enough to hang on but not quite enough to dent the metal.

Air Raid slowly started spinning them. It wouldn’t increase their overall speed, but it would feel like it from the centrifugal force being thrown into the mix as well. He was careful to keep an optic on Sideswipe’s grip though. The frontliner was having far too much fun to notice, temporarily rerouting his gyroscopic readings so for a short while he became wholly unable to tell what way up he was or which way he was facing, instead gripping at Air Raid with a huge grin across his faceplates and trusting the Aerial to not let him fall. The feeling of directional loss just added to the thrill of speed and for just a moment he felt freer than he ever had before. When he got his gyro inputs back and the world was suddenly back to spinning another wild cackle was instantly lost to the air whipping past him.

Air Raid had to pull up eventually as he hadn’t climbed that high and pulled out of the spin and into a wing over, slowing down as he levelled out again before flipping upside down and just letting Sideswipe hang upside down. - _If I stay level, think you can hang on with just your legs?_ -

Sideswipe sounded breathless even over the comm, but it was clear he was having the time of his life. - _Guess we’ll find out, won’t we?_ \- He loosened his hold with his legs just enough to get them properly wrapped around Air Raid’s rear chassis, tucking in just behind his wings between them and the tailfins. He locked his joints in place, squeezed a little harder with his thighs and then carefully lifted one hand, then the other, off from their holds. After a few seconds and realizing he wasn’t about to fall he let himself unfurl properly and eventually had his arms dangling over his head while he whooped ecstatically. - _It’s official,_ \- he announced, - _Best. Day._ Ever.-

A second roar joined them and Fireflight pulled in alongside them before dropping below Sideswipe. - _Hi Sideswipe!_ \- He flicked a wing tip up at the dangling hands, just touching him and it was a testament to Air Raid’s trust in his brother that he never moved. Fireflight could quite easily knock Sideswipe off or disrupt Air Raid’s flight path enough to make him take evasive manoeuvers. The frontliner sent an easy, wide smile at Fireflight, waving with one hand.

- _Heya stranger! Fancy seeing you here._ -

- _Slingshot lost a bet that you’d fall off before now._ \- Fireflight told him. - _Bring Sunny with you next time. We want to see who’s better. I mean, I already know, but, to be fair._ -

- _So you think. I know where my credits are._ \- Air Raid interjected.

- _When it comes to things in the air, Sunny will readily admit I’m much better suited for it. Oh he’ll do all this same as me, we’re not_ that _different, but he’s not quite as attuned to shifts like I am._ \- Sideswipe spread his arms out to the sides. - _Also depends on what you think we’re ‘better’ at, I suppose._ -

There was a moment’s silence before both Air Raid and Fireflight were laughing over the comms. - _I think we need Sunstreaker here for that._ \- Air Raid giggled. - _But the other stuff, I believe you._ -

- _I still want to bring Sunny flying,_ \- Fireflight said, laughter still clear before he peeled away again, taking the joke with him and Air Raid spun them back round the right way up again. Sideswipe dropped back forwards a little as gravity came back to him properly, and while he stayed upright he put his hand on the side of Air Raid’s fuselage.

- _This is incredible,_ \- he enthused. - _Flying with you is so much fun, I don’t wanna jetpack on my own anymore._ -

- _Any time. Honestly Sides, anytime._ \- Air Raid replied softly. - _It’s been amazing to be able to share this with you._ -

- _I’m glad you were able to. It’s such an innate part of you I’d hate to miss out on it._ \- There was a pause and then a laugh. - _And I am glad I was able to keep up. I was only guessing at my resistance to G’s, however educated it was. I’ve done a few G’s before, but not quite to that extent. That was.... That was incredible, and I loved every second, and I have a new appreciation for your skills._ \- Sideswipe leaned forwards to brush his lips over the Aerial’s cockpit in a brief gesture. - _You’re amazing._ -

- _Sides_ …- Air Raid trailed off for a moment. - _Do something for me? Stand up and when I say, jump straight up as high as you can._ -

- _Sure_.- If the request threw Sideswipe at all he didn’t show it, and he carefully unhooked his legs from around Air Raid’s rear section, making sure not to catch his wings or tailfins, and with a few adept motions he was straightening as much as he could without unbalancing, one pede just behind Air Raid’s cockpit while the other rested just behind his wing assembly. He fell into a familiar shifting equilibrium until Air Raid gave him a signal, at which point he leapt up off the flyer’s chassis and into the air, an almost infinitely familiar feeling of having the world taken out from under his pedes, and he laughed.

There was the sound of a rapid transformation below him and then Air Raid caught him, chests thudding together as Air Raid was still decelerating, but the flyer didn’t even seem to notice as he pressed his lips to Sideswipe’s, trying to kiss the life out of him. He wrapped his arms around his waist and back as they dropped in the sky before Air Raid’s boosters did enough to stop them falling further. Sideswipe’s pedes almost automatically found the tops of Air Raid’s as a hold and he threw his arms around his lover’s shoulders, yielding entirely to the kiss that was every bit as good as their flight together. How high they were never even crossed his processors, he trusted Air Raid with every bolt in his body to not let him go, and the feeling of incongruous safety made him smile into the kiss and turn him just that little bit more strutless.

“Like I said,” he murmured when they did eventually break apart, “you’re amazing.”

Air Raid’s grip tightened and he buried his face into Sideswipe’s neck. “I’m so lucky to have you. You’ve given me things I didn’t know I needed. Don’t want to give them up now.” His voice was muffled but it didn’t waver.

“Well, I’m not giving you up for anything.” Sideswipe tilted his helm so it lay on top of Air Raid’s. “I’m yours, all yours. I promise I’m not going anywhere babe.”

Another voice interrupted then, though not unkindly. Silverbolt was hovering not that far away. “Do you two want to join us for training or do you need some time alone?”

“If it gets me more time in the air, I’m all for it,” replied Sideswipe, nudging gently at Air Raid until he unburied his face and the frontliner could kiss him again briefly. “Shall we, gorgeous?”

Air Raid nodded before glancing over at Silverbolt who gave him a steady look, making Air Raid look away. “Well,” Silverbolt started. “If we’re doing this properly, Air Raid has to actually let go of you at some point.” He transformed and hovered, waiting patiently. Sideswipe inclined his helm, smiled softly at Air Raid and stepped out of the flyer’s hold as he activated his jetpack, hovering under his own power once more but instantly missing the warmth and safety of Air Raid’s frame.

“I think I was more holding on to him,” Sideswipe said, opening his arms out to his sides briefly.

“It was both,” Air Raid said softly, smiling at him. “Make ‘Shot look good, try anything Skydive suggests, don’t get anyone hurt and ‘Bolt will like you,” Air Raid hinted, smile growing.

“Duly noted.” Sideswipe sent him a wink and then turned fully towards Silverbolt. “Alright fearless leader, your show. Let’s go!”

  
  


-x-

  
  


Sideswipe understood, he really did. It was hard seeing a bondmate in forced stasis on the repair table, despite whether medics said the injuries were ‘relatively minor’, or ‘light, considering’ or not. Fireflight had been lucky, honestly, Motormaster could do serious damage against unprepared mechs and Superion really hadn’t been prepared for that attack.

He could feel Sunstreaker’s rage at the gestalt leader who _dared_ put a hand on his lover, pushed to one side in favor of looking after Fireflight and making sure he truly was alright, but simmering slowly and balefully under the surface. Without even trying he knew Sunstreaker was going to end Motormaster the next time they met, and Sideswipe would help him without question or remorse. The kill would be his, of course, Sideswipe would only be there as backup and to make sure the rest of the Stunticons wouldn’t interfere.

He refused to draw parallels between the Stunticons and the Aerialbots.

For one the Stunticons were utterly insane and frankly so far beyond saving that Sideswipe wondered how they’d ever made it this far. He’d seen mechs just like them in the arenas; there was nothing that could be done to save them, and they never lasted long. Good fodder for the crowds though. For another the Stunticons had no concept of teamwork, bonds, relationships or affection, which the Aerialbots had in spades, and in Sideswipe’s opinion there was only one clear choice. They wouldn’t contribute to a new Cybertronian society in any meaningful way, it would be a huge blow to the Decepticon forces and it would even out the gestalt playing field. Not that Bruticus showed up all that much. It was an easy sell, and they’d killed for a lot less before.

It was an exceptionally likely outcome that as soon as Motormaster was killed the rest of his gestalt would soon follow, considering they were probably bonded as well, and thus the twins will have taken the lives of five mechs in a single fell swoop. Sideswipe honestly wasn’t sure how much he cared given that it was the Stunticons.

He dragged his gaze back to Fireflight’s still form and Sunstreaker’s relatively relaxed vigil, and sort of jumped when he felt two arms wrap around one of his in a kind of squeeze that was seeking comfort and reassurance. He immediately laced their digits together and turned his body into Air Raid automatically. He watched Ratchet work for a moment, his words comforting and unhurried so Sideswipe knew that Fireflight would be just fine. It was a different thing however between hearing the words and seeing it with one’s own optics, so Sideswipe wasn’t all that surprised when Air Raid tugged on his arm to leave. He was more surprised that Air Raid wanted _him_ and not his bondmates.

“I need to go, I can’t...” There was another tug, and Sideswipe slid his optics to his lover briefly before nodding. He turned back to catch Sunstreaker’s gaze, sent his twin a smile and a wave of reassurance, which Sunstreaker rolled himself up in metaphorically and sent _thanks-love-family_ in return, and then he gathered Air Raid up a little more and led them both out of the Medbay.

They didn’t say anything until they reached Sideswipe’s brewery room, garnering a few varying looks on their way that they either ignored or didn’t notice, and as soon as the lights came on and the door locked behind them Sideswipe turned around fully and dragged Air Raid into a hug, resting his helm on top of the flyer’s.

“How are you holding up?” the frontliner asked quietly.

Air Raid’s digits dug into Sideswipe’s plating and his wings were raised high behind him, trembling and agitated. “It’s my fault. I wasn’t quick enough. I should have done better. I’m Superion’s other arm, other hand. I _missed_. I...”

“No, babe,” Sideswipe replied instantly, “it’s not your fault. It’s not your fault at all.” So this was why Air Raid had run off with him instead of his brothers. “It’s not even Superion’s fault.” The frontliner tightened his hold briefly and pressed his lips to the top of Air Raid’s helm. “No one was expecting it and Superion reacted far quicker than I thought he would, to be honest. No one blames you, no one will ever blame you. Don’t blame yourself.”

“I can’t get ‘Flight’s cries out of my head.” Air Raid shuddered before lifting his head. “Please, make me forget, please. I don’t want to remember it.” He pushed in for a kiss, hard and heavy, grip bordering on painful. Sideswipe allowed it for a moment, but eventually pulled back and caught Air Raid’s optics, gently cupping his face.

“No, gorgeous, not like this. You’re not thinking straight, this won’t help.”

“Please,” Air Raid begged, lip trembling. “Sides, please. I need you. Please help me. You’re the only one who can.”

Sideswipe had never seen Air Raid like this before, and his spark broke a little at the sight of his proud, arrogant flyer begging for something that ultimately wouldn’t ease his distraught mind. “This won’t help, ‘Raid, oblivion only makes it worse. Trust me, I’ve tried. This isn’t the best way to help you.”

“What can I do? Will you help me? Please. I’d… I’d normally be with the others but I had to be with you. It’s got to be you, always has to be you now. I can’t do this without you,” Air Raid admitted, still shaking and overly emotional.

“Oh babe.” Sideswipe pulled Air Raid gently with him to the berth, where he sat against the back wall and settled the flyer into and across his lap, starting to make soothing circular motions across one wing. “I want you to do something for me, alright? I want you to look at me, right in my optics, and intake slowly in time with me. Can you do that?” He tipped Air Raid’s head so the Aerial was looking directly at him and began slowly intaking and ex-venting air, rhythmic and calm. “Work with me, my love.”

Air Raid obediently looked at Sideswipe and shakily started copying his venting. Gradually his wings started dropping, both as Air Raid calmed and with the relaxing touches drifting across them. His hands ghosted over Sideswipe until they were pressed over his chest, right above his spark, feeling both the venting and the rhythmic beat of his pump.

“That’s it ‘Raid,” Sideswipe soothed quietly, “that’s it. You’re doing so good babe, keep venting nice and slow.” He placed his free hand over one of Air Raid’s on his chestplates gently. “I’m here, love, I’m not going anywhere.”

“I love you,” Air Raid blurted abruptly before looking shocked _that_ had come out of his mouth. Sideswipe blinked a couple of times, and then a smile started tugging the corners of his lips up, bright and happy. He leaned forwards and pressed his forehelm to Air Raid’s.

“I love you too,” he replied simply. “So much, babe.”

Air Raid shivered. “I didn't know it was possible to love someone this much. I never thought I would."

“I’ve been in love with you for a while,” Sideswipe admitted, “I just wasn’t sure you were ready to hear it.” He tightened the hand still gripping at Air Raid’s on his chestplates. “You’re a gift, ‘Raid.”

“I didn’t know either. I’ve known for a while that I wanted you but I don’t know when it became love. The gestalt has always been so geared towards each other, even when we fight, and then Fireflight fell in love so easily. We didn’t hate him for it but we didn’t know what to do with that bright happiness that wasn’t anything to do with us.” Air Raid lifted one hand to Sideswipe’s face, tracing the outline of it gently. “Then _you_ came along and suddenly I wanted to do things with you, show you everything, tell you everything. The fact that you’ve never… looked down on me for my needs, I just…” Air Raid shrugged helplessly.

“Sunny’s been deliriously happy since Fireflight came into his life properly and I’ve never seen him like that before. It made me proud and delighted that he was letting someone other than me in like that, but Pit if I wasn’t jealous too. And then you just came waltzing in with your cocky little attitude and that Primus-damned smirk, and that was me gone.” Sideswipe turned his face into Air Raid’s palm and kissed it. “And then you let me care for you, let me look after you. I love doing that for someone I trust, someone I love. Also helps that you’re gorgeous,” he added, smile widening.

“Look, just because you’ve got a wing fetish, doesn’t mean it was an easy win,” Air Raid smiled, poking at his chest, properly relaxing for the first time. “The fact that you saw through the attitude to what I really needed but don’t admit to. I don’t know why someone else hadn’t already stolen you away and thank fragging Primus no one had because I’d do anything to have you here.” He ran a thumb over Sideswipe’s bottom lip. “I’m sorry I pushed before but do you think I can have a kiss now?”

“I hadn’t let them,” Sideswipe replied. “ _We_ hadn’t let them. Fireflight was the first who saw us, and not what he wanted to see. You were the next. Your brothers have welcomed us both so much it feels like we’ve known you for millenia.” The frontliner followed the thumb to press a kiss to the pad of it and nodded. “Of course you can, babe.”

“They kinda didn’t have a choice,” Air Raid admitted with half a smile before leaning in. Just before their lips met he breathed out, “I love you.” Then he was kissing Sideswipe. He meant to be gentle, to show him that love, but he couldn’t. Air Raid always ached to give Sideswipe his all and it showed. 

The red twin accepted Air Raid’s kiss easily this time, pulling him in enthusiastically as close as he could go, elated and feeling like the luckiest mech on Earth. The circles on Air Raid’s wings became just that little bit firmer and he slid his other arm around the flyer’s waist. Never breaking contact he slowly lowered himself onto the berth, until he was flat on his back and Air Raid was straddling him, unconsciously moving with him. Eventually his head fell back onto the berth, breaking their kiss, and his smile was blinding and gratified and if his bond with Sunny was suddenly filled with unadulterated joy he made no apologies about it. “I love you,” he whispered fiercely up at Air Raid. “I love you so damn much.”

Air Raid lit up, like he was really believing it for the first time. “I don’t think I can tell you enough how much I love you, _why_ I love you, but I’m going to try so hard.” He lowered himself closer to Sideswipe, but aimed higher than his mouth to lay an open-mouthed kiss to one helm horn, then the next. “Love these because they look so innocent but I know what noises I’ll get from you when I touch them.” He drifted a little lower, pressing a kiss to each optic. “Love these because they are always so alive, and full of mischief and knowledge.” Lower again. A kiss to his mouth. “Love this for its clever words, clever glossa and every little thing it says and does.”

Sideswipe’s optics dimmed a little and he couldn’t help the pleased noise that escaped his vocalizer, a noise he probably wouldn’t have stopped anyway even if he could. He drifted a hand up to Air Raid’s wings, drumming gently on them. “Love these because they say everything your lips don’t, because they react so beautifully to everything around you.” He trailed around to press digits against Air Raid’s chestplates. “Love this because it’s full of your fire, your passion, your ardor for everything you do and everything you are.”

“Stop stealing my lines,” Air Raid told him, pressing another kiss to his mouth before sitting up enough to be able to pull a hand round to his mouth. “Love these. I’ve seen them destroy mechs, I know what they’re capable of but on my body, they know exactly how to touch me.” He shifted on Sideswipe’s lap, just enough to drop one of his own hands to the frontliner’s crotch. “And I can definitely show you how much I love this.”

“Destroy you in all the best ways,” Sideswipe said with a chuckle, shifting a little on the berth. He hooked a leg over one of Air Raid’s, tangling them together. “And I’d be more than willing to let you show me. I know how much I love yours.”

Air Raid smirked before raising an optic ridge. “You know, something I’ve never asked, I guess cause I’m selfish, but do you like valve play? Am I making you miss out on something you want?”

“I do,” said Sideswipe serenely, “but you’re hardly making me miss out on anything. I am perfectly happy with whatever you want.” He lifted himself up onto his elbows and grinned. “That said if you fancy swapping roles any time I absolutely would not say no to you inside me.”

“I’m not saying no,” Air Raid said before hesitating briefly. “But I still wouldn’t want to take control like you do. I second guess myself and I’d want you to enjoy it as much as I do.”

“I don’t mean take control, ‘Raid, I just mean if you ever wanna use my valve then feel free.” Sideswipe’s smile widened a little. “I’ve been told I make a good power bottom too.”

“Then whenever you want to use my spike, it’s yours as much as my valve is,” Air Raid promised. “I want to make you the happiest I can.”

“You do regardless, babe.” Sideswipe reached out and patted at Air Raid’s face. “What do you want?”

“Oh don’t be mean and make me choose,” Air Raid pouted. “If I didn’t have brothers and we weren’t fighting in this war I’d stay in your berth all the time.”

“Would you now?” Sideswipe mused, optics shuttering a little. “Maybe once this war is over I’ll keep you there. I think I’d like your spike now, I want to feel you inside me.”

“Anything you want,” Air Raid told him, leaning down closer. “ _Anything_.” He pressed a long, slow kiss to Sideswipe’s mouth. The frontliner dragged his hands up and around Air Raid’s shoulders and pressed his hips up into the flyer’s.

“Love you,” he murmured into Air Raid’s mouth.

Air Raid pulled back enough to smile down at Sideswipe, darting back in to kiss him again, glossa teasing before he was running a line of kisses down his jaw and neck, occasionally nipping at him. His digits dug into the edges of Sideswipe’s chest. “Love you. All I want to do is love you, make you feel good.”

“Then make me feel good, babe. Show me what you’ve got, make love to me,” Sideswipe urged, armor flaring slightly under Air Raid’s digits.

Air Raid trailed his mouth lower, following lines of seams across Sideswipe’s chest. He worked his digits deeper under Sideswipe’s armor now he had access, scraping over wires and lines. “I promise I’ll make you feel good. I’m going to be good for you.”

“You’re going to be so good for me, do whatever I want you to, aren’t you?” Sideswipe said heatedly, arching into Air Raid’s touches. He brought his hands round from Air Raid’s back to latch onto the wings, flexing his digits when he did.

The flyer moaned into Sideswipe’s plating, nodding. He shifted his hips, untangling their legs to push down lower, testing the give in the headlights and the groove under the bumper and he brought his hands down to Sideswipe’s hips, pulling at him. “I’m still your slut, yours to use however you want.”

Sideswipe sat up a little and tightened his grip on one wing. “Always will be. I’m going to use your spike and take everything I can from it, everything I want.”

Air Raid whimpered, fighting the urge to go pilant in Sideswipe’s grip, and instead continue to make him feel good. He pressed his face down, glossa coming out to trace the edges of Sideswipe’s interface panel as he scraped his digits over the black hips until he reached Sideswipe’s thighs where he pushed at them, to give him better access. Sideswipe hummed happily, spreading his legs apart and pressing up into Air Raid’s glossa. His panel clicked and slid back slowly and he sighed happily at the cooler room air hitting his equipment. “That’s it babe, you’re so good.”

Immediately Air Raid’s glossa was tasting the newly revealed valve. He licked long stripes over every inch of it, humming happily before teasing the tip of his glossa around the node, flicking at it. He slipped his hands from Sideswipe’s thighs to the back of his hips, tilting them a little so the valve was the perfect angle for him to devote all his attention to.

“ _Yes_ ,” Sideswipe hissed, pressing into Air Raid’s glossa and teasing at the air brake under his hand. His other hand moved to sit on Air Raid’s helm and pressed him down further to his valve. “So good my love, your glossa feels so good.”

Air Raid moaned at the pressure from Sideswipe’s hand, feeling the heat radiating from the valve under him. He sealed his mouth over the node to suck on it, working it before carefully grazing it with his denta, optics darting up to look at Sideswipe. He wanted Sideswipe to feel as pleasured as he could but he also knew there would come a point where Sideswipe would say he was teasing him and demand more. The flyer could admit to wanting to hear that. Sideswipe gasped at the feel of denta and arched up into Air Raid’s mouth.

“I want your digits,” Sideswipe growled, letting the sound reverberate through his chest and scraping his own over Air Raid’s helm. “Make me overload with your glossa and your digits.”

Air Raid whined. He thrust his glossa into the valve, deep and unhesitating before dragging it back out and doing it again, working into a steady rhythm. One hand let go of Sideswipe’s hip, working under Air Raid’s chest until he could touch the valve under his mouth where he pressed one digit inside, sinking all the way to the knuckle. Sideswipe’s valve rippled with the intrusion and he fell back onto the berth a little with a soft “ _frag_ ”. It had been far too long since he’d last used his valve and he’d forgotten just how good it felt, how tight it was after not being used for so long. He could feel the digit twisting carefully, the glossa dipping in and out and laving attention over his node and the pleasure was shooting through him while his port slicked itself with lubricant, dragged and helped by the exploratory digit.

“It’s been way too long,” he groaned. “Primus that feels good.”

Air Raid let out a pleased noise. A second digit pressed at the valve under his glossa, teasing, until the valve gave under the relentless pressure and he could thrust the two digits inside the wet, warm heat together. He worked them, curling and scissoring as he sucked on the node again. Sideswipe’s moan was loud and long and he shuddered when he felt the second digit slip inside him. He could feel his valve steadily relaxing and stretching under the Aerial’s movements, pleasure still darting through him from the thorough attention being given to his node, and was struck by the sudden urge to feel Air Raid inside him, how good it would be to just ride the flyer. The thought made him growl lowly and his valve clenched a little and trickled more lubricant in response. He could hardly wait to see what it would be like, and he tugged on the wing he was grasping as heat began pooling at the base of his struts.

“More, babe. Give me more.”

Air Raid groaned at the tug. He pressed a third digit in, sure and unrelenting, his glossa joining them again. He grazed the node with his denta again before letting his engine rumble into life. As close as he was to the valve the vibrations travelled easily, sinking into the wet heat. He wanted Sideswipe’s overload, to taste him properly but he didn’t know whether he’d be given that reward so he renewed his efforts.

The frontliner had opened his mouth to utter more praise but it was replaced by a cry as arousal shot through him from Air Raid’s engine thundering to life. It was a stark reminder just how much more powerful the flyer’s systems were than his own, and the knowledge that all that power was his and his alone was more than enough to ratchet Sideswipe’s overload up. Air Raid’s glossa felt so good against his node and the digits inside him were delicious and he hadn’t done this in so long that he wasn’t all that surprised when overload hit him kind of out of the blue. It flashed through him and wrung a howl of pleasure from his vocalizer as he clamped down on the digits, lubricant flooding the valve almost to excess.

Air Raid lapped up the rush of lubricant rolling over his glossa, chin and digits soaked and made a pleased, gratified noise. He carried on working his digits, dragging out the overload. There was a click as Air Raid’s interface panel slid away and he froze briefly before whining quietly. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. You want my spike.” The digits on Sideswipe’s hip dug in as Air Raid concentrated. There was another click as Air Raid let his spike cover slide away as well. Sideswipe hummed in both approval and anticipation, sitting up first onto slightly shaky elbows again and then properly after a purr of hunger rippled through him. He ran a digit over the rim around the spike, using his other hand to bring Air Raid’s face up and forwards to kiss him and taste himself on the other’s glossa.

“Do you want me to suck you off first?” he asked rakishly, “or would you rather frag me, let me ride you?”

“Whatever you want,” Air Raid gasped into Sideswipe’s mouth, hips bucking towards his hand. He pushed his own digits deeper into Sideswipe’s valve, pressing upwards. That pulled a slightly choked moan from Sideswipe’s lips and he dropped his head onto Air Raid’s shoulder for a moment as his hips stuttered. He could feel the spike on top of his hand, which he used to grasp around it and start pumping slowly, and it was thick and warm and he’d be damned if he wasn’t craving it.

“Lie down, on your back,” he said forcefully. “I need this-” he squeezed around the spike slightly, “-in me. Now.”

Air Raid whined, unwillingly pulling his digits free and scooting just enough to lay down but keep Sideswipe’s hand around his spike. The words pulled at Air Raid’s pool of arousal and a line of transfluid slowly trailed down one side of his spike and into the waiting grasp. There was a similar line of lubricant from his open valve as well. Air Raid didn’t have the control to shut it. As soon as the flyer was on his back Sideswipe fell forwards from his sitting position so his knees were either side of Air Raid, and using the hand that was grasping the Aerial’s spike he guided it so it was touching the rim of his valve. He let it sit there for a few seconds, catching Air Raid’s optics, then carefully started sliding down it.

The frontliner bit his bottom lip but did nothing to stifle the gasp and little noises at his port slowly filling up and stretching out. It was almost foreign and a little strange but his anticipation had been more than worth it. By the time he was fully seated in Air Raid’s pelvic cradle his fans were screaming and heat was radiating off him and he desperately wanted to feel Air Raid lose himself in his valve. “Primus, _babe_ ,” Sideswipe panted. “ _Frag me_ that feels so good.”

Air Raid’s hands had latched onto Sideswipe’s hips the moment his spike had touched the rim of his valve and they gripped with desperate strength as his spike was slowly swallowed by tight, wet heat. His back bowed up a little just to stop himself thrusting up into Sideswipe and strained noises worked his way out of his vocalizer. “Sides, Sides, you’re… you’re… Please, I won’t last. Take what you want from me.”

“Oh don’t worry about that, lover, I’m gonna use you for every last drop of transfluid you can give me.” Sideswipe dropped forwards onto his hands, setting them either side of Air Raid’s head, and started working himself on the flyer’s spike. The first couple of times he rose and fell it was relatively slow, getting used to the glide of the spike in his valve, but pretty soon his pace sped up and little noises escaped him every time he dropped back down. He turned his gaze down at Air Raid, optics bright with charge. “Feel that? That’s how I feel every time I take your whore valve, every time you bend over for me.”

Air Raid shuddered. “And you feel thick and hot and like you’re breaking me in half.” He bent his knees, lifting his hips as Sideswipe dropped back down. “And you fill me over and over. You make me feel so good, so dirty and used.” He picked up his head, kissing Sideswipe. The frontliner moaned a little as the spike drove deeper with every one of Air Raid’s upwards thrusts, punctuating each one with his glossa into the flyer’s mouth. He shifted his mass more onto one arm and placed the other one onto one of Air Raid’s wings, letting it feel the pressure every time he drew back up the Aerial’s spike and took his own weight.

“You’re gonna fill me up,” he growled into Air Raid’s mouth. “You’re gonna fill me up and then keep fragging me good and hard like the greedy little slut you are. You want that pleasure, don’t you? You want me, all of me.”

“I do, so bad, even when I don’t deserve it,” Air Raid agreed breathlessly, gasping at every wave of pressure on his wing. “You’re going to keep riding me aren’t you? Make me overload even when it hurts so much.” He managed to unlatch a hand from Sideswipe’s hip to be able to bring his thumb round to press against his node. Sideswipe shivered and curled the digits on the wing slightly.

“What makes you think I’m gonna ride you the whole time? You’re gonna have to work for your overloads, gorgeous,” Sideswipe countered, rolling his hips a little. He began rhythmically squeezing and rippling his valve as his movement sped up, and small pulses began to radiate from the hand on his wing as the low setting on his piledrivers came online. “I told you that you were going to _frag me_.”

Air Raid cried out, head thudding down onto the berth as the vibrations in his wing. “I’ll be good! I’ll be good! Whatever you want! Sides can I… can I…?” His hips jerked up harder, faster as Air Raid fought his overload.

“Yeah,” Sideswipe said breathlessly. “I want to feel you, want you to fill me.”

Sideswipe’s name ripped from Air Raid’s throat as he overloaded, hips lifting off the berth as he drove himself deeper into the clenching heat surrounding it. His grip tightened unconsciously, digging into hip seams and just under the node, pressed in between Sideswipe and Air Raid’s own baseplates. Sideswipe’s moan was long and low and the feeling from his valve intensified as he felt Air Raid’s release just as promised. He managed to hold on to his own overload but only briefly, as he made the mistake of rolling his hips while his valve rippled, milking every last bit of transfluid, and the pressure on his node increased just enough that the sparks of pleasure from the gesture toppled him over, and he clenched up with a choked cry as energy flashed through his frame and there was an abrupt wave of lubricant from his valve. It felt amazing and he wanted more even as he shuddered his way through the excess energy.

Sitting in Air Raid’s lap he looked back down at his lover, grinning, satisfaction evident. “You’re so good,” he said breathily. “So good, babe.”

Air Raid shivered, unused to sitting within a valve slick and hot with transfluid and knowing that Sideswipe was in no way done with him. The thought that he would demand Air Raid work for both of their overloads and keep making him do it sent waves of arousal pulsing through him. Sideswipe made compliance so easy. He rubbed his thumb over the node, firm but slow, optics on Sideswipe’s face as he tried to get his own venting back under control. The frontliner shuttered his optics for a short moment as a fine tremor ran through his frame, but then lifted himself onto his knees and up, letting Air Raid’s spike slide out of his body. He felt weirdly empty without it, but the slow dripping of transfluid and lubricants from his valve down the insides of his thighs sort of made up for that feeling. He took Air Raid’s chin in one hand. “Sit up,” he ordered. “You’re going to frag me properly this time, work for it. I want at least two more overloads from you.”

He dropped the Aerial’s face then and shifted to the side, where he lay with his weight on one arm and elbow and an exposed valve and lifted leg, engine rumbling expectantly. Air Raid sat up, optics trailing down Sideswipe’s body and when he lifted his gaze there was heat there. He shuffled forward until he was leaning over the frontliner, kissing him, nipping at his bottom lip and inviting his glossa to play for a long moment before pulling back slightly. “And how many overloads for you?”

“That’s for me to worry about,” Sideswipe replied in a deceptively mild tone. He leaned up and brushed Air Raid’s face with his lips, fluttering barely there kisses across the flyer’s cheeks and nose. “You just do what I tell you, gorgeous.”

Air Raid nodded. “I will.” He dropped a hand to the open valve, running two digits up either side of the opening before leaning in closer to do the same with the tip of his spike. The head pushed across the slick folds at the entrance, catching on the rim and he bent down again to kiss Sideswipe. “I love you.”

Sideswipe hooked a leg around Air Raid’s thighs and pressed him into his body, optics half-shuttering and a smile appearing slowly on his lips. “Love you too, babe, and everything you do.”

Air Raid groaned as Sideswipe pulled him in and ground his hips down, rolling them when he was flush with Sideswipe’s body. His digits curled into the covers, gripping them before he slid back out, nearly completely before pressing in again, slow but deep, changing the angle he pulled out at to drag the tip of his spike over one wall, then another. Sideswipe hissed in pleasure, rolling his hips into every movement of Air Raid’s and gripping at a wing with his only free hand, the gentle pulses from before starting up again. He spread his legs out as much as he could while still keeping one tangled around Air Raid to let him go as deep as he could and urged the flyer on with contractions and ripples through his valve.

As soon as the pulses started again, Air Raid shuddered, hips driving forward harder in response. “Sides please I…” He mouthed at Sideswipe’s throat. “I love hearing you. Please.” He let go of the covers with one hand, shifting his weight a little to bring it up to the back of Sideswipe’s helm, grip tightening on it slightly. The frontliner had been about to respond when a particularly hard thrust hit home in just the right way and instead he cried out, the shock of pleasure racing through him. It was deep and good and as much as Air Raid was made to fit him he was gratified to know he was made to fit his lover too. He gripped the wing just a little harder and heat pooled in his abdomen as little noises and groans were fragged out of him with every movement.

“Yes, babe, yes, just like that, you’re so good,” Sideswipe breathed. “Wanna see you lose it.”

The louder cry sent a bolt of arousal up Air Raid’s spinal struts and he endeavoured to thrust home in the same way again, every time. The grip on his wing was borderline painful now and Air Raid wondered if he could drive Sideswipe to forget his own strength for once and leave marks. “I need to be good. For you. Need to frag you. Do as I’m told,” Air Raid bit out, struggling against the need to overload. The easier he let go now, he knew the next one would only come quicker again. His engine growled into life again, rough and louder than before. Sideswipe’s own burst forwards at the engine roaring through him and was only stopped because he had just that little bit of self-control left. Instead he sent a much stronger wave through Air Raid’s wing, followed quickly by another.

“You... you first,” Sideswipe managed to get out, strained and pleasured and barely gripping the edge to stop from falling over. “Need to... feel you fill me.”

This time it was Air Raid who cried out, hips stuttering forward hard, grinding against Sideswipe as his overload came crashing over him. He filled Sideswipe’s valve with transfluid and bit down against his neck cables, grip tight on his plating and the covers. The wings above them shook under the vibration, pleasure and strain. Sideswipe’s tenuous hold on his control fled, and his frame tensed and shuddered as he keened out Air Raid’s name while excess energy raced through him. It took him a moment to regain himself somewhat, ridiculously sensitized and Air Raid still a thick, heavy presence in his now dripping valve, but when he did he let go of the wing he was holding on to, leaned up to kiss his lover and then brought his hand down sharply against one hip.

“Again,” he growled, underlying tones laced with static.

Air Raid’s hips jerked at the slap and it tore a sharp noise from him but obediently he started moving again. The wings didn’t stop shaking and the engine note was unsteady too as Air Raid struggled. He was so sensitive and over stimulated that he could barely hold himself together.

“Sides,” he sobbed, hand dropping back to the covers to try and help brace himself. “ _Please_ I can’t…”

Sideswipe didn’t quite manage to swallow back the yelp when Air Raid’s hips lurched and the moans when he started moving again. It felt so, so good, the glide of a spike against his sensitive walls and the flyer’s trembling above him. He tightened the leg tangling over Air Raid’s hips and reached up to grab Air Raid’s chin none too gently.

“You can and you will whore,” the frontliner snarled. “You know you want it.”

Air Raid whined. “I do, I’m sorry. I’ll try, I will. It’s just too good, you feel so good.” There was little coordination in his hips and the movements were harsher, deeper and faster than before. He was pliant in Sideswipe’s grip, the leg over his hip urging him on. The frontliner knew he wouldn’t last too much longer either, Air Raid apparently already close despite being so soon after his previous overload, but the unpredictable thrusts were driving him wild and the heat he could feel from both of their interface panels was racing up his spinal struts. Somehow in among the pounding his valve was receiving he managed to get over properly onto his back and wrap the other leg around Air Raid to join the first without breaking them apart, and Sideswipe had no idea how he’d done it but it gave him purchase to flatten his thighs out properly to the berth. Both his hands, now that one was no longer supporting his weight, went back to the wings and began pulsing through both of them, the resultant movements wringing loud, pleasured cries from his vocalizer.

“Yes, babe, yes, that’s it, _Primus_... Wanna feel you, wanna see you.”

Air Raid shrieked, back bowing, head thrown back, optics squeezed shut. His overload ripped through him, utterly pulling out everything he had left in him, transfluid and energy. Sideswipe barely had time to think, ‘ _beautiful_ ’, before he tumbled over the edge again in a flash of heat and sensation, clamping down with his valve and his legs as he rode the waves of pleasure and momentarily forgetting himself as his digits dug into wings hard enough to leave impressions behind. As he felt Air Raid practically collapse on top of him he simply lay there for several minutes, listening to the noises of heated metal and both of their rapid vents and feeling his valve thick and full and sticky with lubricants and transfluid. It shouldn’t have been as much of a turn on as it was, and he shuddered and shuttered his optics.

“So good, gorgeous, you were so good,” he murmured into an audial. “That felt amazing. Still feels amazing. Love you.”

“Love you,” Air Raid mumbled back, face pressed into Sideswipe’s neck. He tried to pick himself up and failed utterly. He hadn’t rested since the battle and was physically and emotionally drained now. The close contact with Sideswipe was soothing. The frontliner removed his hands slowly from the wings they had been clutching, a twinge of guilt making itself known that he’d left marks when he shouldn’t have done, and instead wrapped them around Air Raid.

“Feeling better?” he asked softly, landing a kiss on the side of Air Raid’s helm.

The flyer nodded, dragging his head up enough to press a badly aimed kiss on Sideswipe’s cheek. “Should move,” he mumbled again. “Clean up. Took you away from your brother.”

“You worry too much, gorgeous,” Sideswipe told him, tightening his arms briefly. “Sunny’s fine, and if he needs me I’m here. He trusts Ratchet implicitly, so he’s not worried. I wanted to be here, for you and with you.” He carefully sat up and brought Air Raid with him, shifting him long enough that he could disentangle them, allowing Air Raid’s spike to slide out of him. There was an immediate sense of loss and emptiness and he only just prevented a low noise escaping. Sideswipe’s hips twitched a little though when he closed his valve cover and sealed away the transfluid still inside it. It felt weird, but he’d be damned if it didn’t feel good, too, knowing his lover had claimed him as well. He peppered kisses over Air Raid’s chest. “We can clean up later if you want, if you need to rest then do babe.”

Air Raid whined tiredly but closed up his own interface panel. He pressed sleepy kisses to Sideswipe’s helm. “Whatever you want. Just want to stay with you. Always.”

“You’re exhausted. Get some recharge, gorgeous flyer, I’ll stay here until you wake up.” Sideswipe started stroking a little absently at the bottom of a wing. “I love you. So much.”

“Love you too,” Air Raid murmured, settling down into Sideswipe’s side, tucking himself in as close as he could get. It didn’t take long until Sideswipe heard Air Raid’s systems slow and drop into idle or low power states, and he shuttered his optics with a slight smile on his face. Knowing the Aerial was shattered and had probably been running quite high from the moment Fireflight came off Superion Sideswipe figured it would be a fair few hours before he awoke, so he settled back into a doze, deciding to get a good defrag cycle in while he could.

  
  


-x-

  
  


The next morning found Air Raid waking relatively early for a day when he didn’t have to, and his onlining along with accompanying stretch and sleepy murmur were enough to bring Sideswipe out of recharge as well. When he’d fallen offline Sideswipe couldn’t pinpoint but he clearly had. Air Raid was still tucked into his side and he was curled around the flyer in return. The frontliner waited until a pair of dimmed blue optics found his to smile and drag a digit reverently down one cheek.

“Morning gorgeous.”

For being unexpectedly awake earlier than normal Air Raid found he didn’t care in the slightest. He smiled widely in return before boosting up Sideswipe enough to kiss him, slow and lingering. “Definitely a good morning.”

“Glad you think so,” Sideswipe grinned. His smile faded a little though and he moved his hand from cheek to wing. “I do have an apology to make though. I grabbed your wings too hard yesterday, so you’ve got some marks. I didn’t mean to hurt you babe, I’m sorry.”

“Thank you for the apology but you didn’t hurt me,” Air Raid assured him. “I _like_ your marks. They might ache but that’s alright. Do something for me? Touch them.” As Sideswipe gently ran digits across them the flyer shuddered, going pliant. “I _want_ others to see them, to see that I’m yours, that you can do things to me no one else can.”

“I want others to see you’re mine too,” Sideswipe murmured, “but never at the cost of hurting you. You sure your wings are alright? They won’t affect you or your flying?”

“I can feel the marks, I won’t lie, but it’s no worse than what you do to my valve,” Air Raid grinned. “The fact that I made you lose control, even a little bit, is a thrill.” He sat up a little. “If you want to, if it helps you feel better, blame me. I was bad, I made you lose control. You can punish me.” Air Raid pressed a kiss to a horn.

“I’m not going to blame you for something that wasn’t your fault,” the frontliner smiled, relaxing a little now that he was sure Air Raid wasn’t hurting or mad about the marks. “But alright. If you’re sure you don’t mind then that’s alright. I promise I’ll try not to do it again.” Sideswipe brought one hand back to Air Raid’s face. “Unless you explicitly ask me to. I can mark you in other ways if you like those.”

Air Raid covered the hand on his face. “I trust you, implicitly. That means my wings too. I don’t want you to hold back. I know you’re making those decisions for my benefit but the fact that I’m getting off on you spanking me means I’m not going to turn down other things.”

“I have to make sure things don’t go too far though.” Sideswipe kissed Air Raid briefly and then smacked him lightly on the aft. “C’mon babe, let’s get cleaned up, we can go see Fireflight and then we’ll get some energon down you.”

Air Raid made a low noise at the smack and half shuttered his optics. “Maybe we’ll get some other things down me too.” He shimmied off Sideswipe and onto the floor, stretching, glancing at his wings with a smug grin. Sideswipe took a moment to appreciate the view then followed Air Raid off the berth. 

Luckily the waskracks weren’t that far from Sideswipe’s room so the two of them got into a stall and cleaned off fairly quickly (and if there was any teasing Sideswipe was hardly complaining), and then they made their way to the Medbay. Fireflight was still offline, but under his own power as opposed to forced stasis. Sunstreaker and Silverbolt were both present as well, and as Sideswipe observed silently from Air Raid’s side he noticed the Aerial didn’t seem nearly as tense or worried as he had the previous evening, and the frontliner hoped it was because he wasn’t blaming himself anymore. Silverbolt looked between them for several moments when they first came in, and then seemed to relax the cant of his wings and smile a little wider when Air Raid tucked himself into Sideswipe’s side and caught his brother’s optics briefly.

They stayed for half an hour or so in the Medbay, Air Raid in almost constant contact with Fireflight as the four of them chatted quietly, and then eventually Sideswipe followed his lover out of the room to go get some energon at Silverbolt’s gentle insistence. The walk to the rec room was quiet and uneventful, meeting only Wheeljack heading towards the labs. The engineer seemed to notice the damaged wings and opened his mouth to say something, but when Air Raid shot him a rather satisfied grin and Sideswipe merely raised an optic ridge he seemed to think better of it and snorted instead, leaving the two mechs to carry on to their destination unhindered.

When they reached the rec room it was busy, but not overly so as it wasn’t a “peak time” to be getting energon. There were plenty of spare tables and seats scattered about, and Sideswipe nudged his lover over to an empty table, kissed him soundly and then beelined for the dispensers to get them both a cube. Air Raid didn’t sit down straight away, intent instead on watching Sideswipe leave for several seconds with a smirk, but it was apparently more than enough time for mechs to notice what was different about the Aerial. That Air Raid himself seemed to have no issues with his damage assured most that he was perfectly fine with it, or he’d have been in Medbay with one of the medics getting it sorted, but for some it was too good an opportunity.

“Thought the freaks would get enough of flyers on the battlefield,” came Gears’ voice from not too far away. “Good to know they’re not getting rusty. What are you, a masochist?”

Air Raid swung round, a wide grin on his face and sauntered over to Gears’ table. When he got there he leant down over the table, wings rising, showing off the marks. “Oh I promise you, Sideswipe isn’t in the least bit rusty. Why don’t you ask him whether I’m a masochist or not? I don’t really care because I’m getting the best frag in the Ark and you’re not.”

Gears sneered, but it was Huffer who piped up next. “Thought you lot were too good for grounder scum, and then you go and berth the freakiest of the lot?”

“Maybe _that’s_ why we had that attitude. You lot act like you’re better than mechs that have saved your lives countless times and all we’ve seen from them proves they’re the best mechs in the Ark, so yeah, I’ll frag Sideswipe and _enjoy_ it,” Air Raid told them, folding his arms over his chest. “He’s the only one here who deserves my love anyway.”

“Love?” asked Gears, a little incredulously. They’d gathered a bit of a crowd now, optics from nearby drawn to their table. “You? Please, he’s using you.”

“And why would I believe _you_ over _him_ when he’s never judged me for past mistakes, when he’s embraced all the slag that makes me who I am,” Air Raid returned, optic ridge rising. “Why the frag would I believe you when the first thing you did when he walked in the room was call him names and dismiss our relationship?”

“Because they’re self-entitled idiots?” Huffer started, but didn’t get any further as a shadow fell over the table, a cube landed into Air Raid’s hands and a set of black digits slipped perfectly into the indentations on one of Air Raid’s wings.

“Someone mention a self-entitled idiot?” Sideswipe quizzed cheerily.

Air Raid’s grip tightened on the cube but he couldn’t disguise the shiver that ran through him. “I think Huffer was talking about him and Gears cause otherwise they’re deaf and stupid. Oh, but Gears did want to know whether I’m a masochist or not.”

“That was not-” Gears started, but Sideswipe cut him off as though he hadn’t been talking.

“I wouldn’t have said so, you just like it when I get a little carried away.” The frontliner leaned in and pressed his face against Air Raid’s gently. “They’re just jealous because we’re getting some and they’re not.”

“And how would you know?” Huffer snarled, furious now at the apparent lack of reaction he was looking for.

“You wouldn’t be this frustrated at seeing a grounder and a flyer hooking up otherwise,” Sideswipe pointed out, amusement growing with every passing second. “You’d be interfacing your anger out with a partner instead of trying to deride us if you were. Sorry, short stuff. Air Raid’s mine and we’re proud of it.”

“Short stuff?!” Huffer’s expression was near apoplectic now, and only worsened when a round of sniggers from the nearby mechs sounded.

“You’re a minibot aren’t you? Kinda in the name,” Air Raid grinned before turning more towards Sideswipe. “Interfacing those intense emotions out really does work. I’d highly recommend it.”

“You’d know, wouldn’t you babe?” leered Sideswipe, before kissing Air Raid firmly. “Oh,” he added after a moment, turning back to Huffer, “maybe you should try it sometime. I hear Gears is available, sounds like you two have some issues to work out.”

There was an inarticulate noise of rage from both minibots and they hopped off their seats ready to launch themselves at Sideswipe, but the frontliner merely grinned and glanced over his shoulder to where Prowl was stood, watching everything with impassive optics. The minis took a little longer to notice, and it was comical enough that Sideswipe started laughing when Gears finally caught sight of the SIC halfway through trying to punch the red twin.

“Brig,” he said succinctly, “now. Both of you. I’ll be down to deal with you in a moment.” When the minis didn’t move initially his doorwings hitched up and his optics narrowed. “Go.”

Sullenly Gears and Huffer slowly made their way out of the rec room, shooting Air Raid and Sideswipe dirty glares the entire time. The two mechs watched them go with matching smirks before Sideswipe turned his attention to Prowl.

“Thanks boss,” he said cheerfully, “but you ruined our fun y’know.”

The doorwings twitched and Prowl sighed. “You know the rules, no brawling in the rec room.”

“Pssh.” Sideswipe waved a hand dismissively. “You know us, Prowl, we don’t care about that.”

“I am well aware. However I believe Ratchet has enough to be getting on with regarding Fireflight, I would rather he not be burdened with the repairs of two mechs who should have known better and chose the path of idiocy instead.” The SIC canted his doorwings in a silent farewell, which Air Raid automatically returned, and Prowl left the room with his own cube.

“Honestly, if I didn’t know better I’d’ve almost said that was approval from him,” mused Sideswipe, taking a sip from his own drink. “Who knew handprints could cause so much drama.”

Air Raid snorted. “And I was about to say sorry. ‘Flight’s a good influence on Sunstreaker. I can’t say that I am for you.”

“Oh I don’t know about that,” said Blaster from a couple tables over. “He hasn’t been causing quite as much trouble and he’s much less likely to fly off the handle now that he’s metaphorically strewing rose petals everywhere he goes nowadays.”

“Don’t you get started on the jealousy train either,” retorted Sideswipe easily. “Suits you much less than the minis Blaster.”

Air Raid smirked and pressed his lips to Sideswipe’s audial. “Maybe he’s regretting not acting on being on your list. He’s realised what he’s missing now.”

Blaster raised a hand, chuckling. “No regrets here, my mech. Sides ain’t my type.” The communications officer tipped his cube at them. “Just glad you’re happy, that’s all. And that rose petals are just metaphorical.”

Sideswipe caught Air Raid’s optics at that, and a quick flash of amusement crossed both their faces as the frontliner mentally started working out where he could get several buckets of rose petals from. Blaster either missed the look or ignored it as he went back to his drink, and Sideswipe shepherded Air Raid over to the empty table the flyer had been standing next to earlier to sit them both down. They hadn’t got far into their drinks when Bumblebee came over, grimacing a little.

“Sorry about Gears and Huffer,” he said without preamble. “They’ve been even more unbearable than usual lately and I don’t know why. They’re wrong though, it’s nice to see you guys happy. Especially Sunstreaker, he seems a lot less psychopathic now.”

Sideswipe snorted with laughter. “He just doesn’t handle emotions well, that’s all,” he replied, giving the minibot a grin. “Fireflight’s helped that a lot.”

“I can tell.” Bumblebee rocked back on his heels. “Like the marks, by the way. Don’t they hurt?”

Air Raid preened, wings flicking. “They ache a bit but it’s a good reminder and it’s an easy way to show us off without getting us thrown in the brig for pda.”

“I suppose so. But won’t it affect your flying? Air won’t flow quite the same, right?”

“Not quite but I’ve flown with worse damage.” Air Raid shrugged. He glanced at Sideswipe briefly, clearly contemplating something.

“I know that look,” Sideswipe accused good-naturedly. “What mischief are you cooking up now, gorgeous?”

- _Just thinking about you touching the marks again, here, in public and how I’d fold for you._ \- Air Raid told him, expression staying the same even if the comm was full of heat. “Mischief? How dare you. I would never do anything to get into trouble.”

“Uh-huh, sure,” Bumblebee snickered. “Well, as long as you’re alright and happy, that’s most important. Meanwhile I’m going to go knock some helms together in the brig.” He waved them goodbye briefly and then left the rec room. Sideswipe turned his attention back to Air Raid, optics narrowing slightly.

“You _are_ trouble,” he said out loud. - _You really are an exhibitionist,_ \- he added over comms. - _Liquid in my hands, and all I have to do is touch you._ -

Air Raid smirked into his energon. - _All you have to do is say something._ -

Sideswipe hummed in acknowledgement and took a long drink from his cube. “I love you.”

Air Raid’s smirk softened. “Love you too.”

Sideswipe reached out and touched Air Raid’s face, light and loving. - _Maybe I’ll get that ‘something else’ down you after this is finished_ ,- he said cheekily.

- _I look forward to it._ \- Air Raid turned his face to kiss Sideswipe’s digits. Sideswipe smiled, ran a thumb across Air Raid’s bottom lip and then withdrew his hand, going back to his energon and wondering how on earth he’d got so lucky.

  
  


-x-

  
  


Sideswipe was in the Medbay when Air Raid’s comm came through, having a few dents from his session in Ironhide’s sims straightened back out by First Aid. It had been several weeks since Fireflight had been dismissed with a clean bill of health and thankfully the Autobots hadn’t had any serious injuries since then. Most of the medical team were taking a well-deserved break from the shenanigans of the Ark with much fewer shifts, but they were all on standby as ever just in case. First Aid hadn’t said a word when Sideswipe and Sunstreaker walked in, just sighed and pointed to a couple of berths.

Sunstreaker’s dents and scrapes had been fixed up first, experience having taught all the medical team that it was better to get him out of the way so the bitching about his paintjob would be far less. The golden twin had been patched up in less than ten minutes and was out the door on a hunt for his paint seconds later. Sideswipe had watched him go with a fond smile before First Aid turned his attention to him. The frontliner obligingly held out his arm first, and First Aid flashed him a quick grin before getting to work.

He’d taken slightly longer to finish up, maybe closer to fifteen minutes, but it was a drop in the ocean of time compared to how long they sometimes had to stay. About halfway through he received a comm from a pleased-sounding Air Raid inviting him to the Aerialbot suites and after immediately saying ‘yes’ he was a little more eager to get out of the Medbay. First Aid seemed to notice, but didn’t hurry his repairs. Not that Sideswipe would have asked him to.

Not long later, with fresh repairs and even fresher paint touch-ups, Sideswipe chimed at the door to the suite and waited, hands tucked behind his back. Air Raid didn’t leave him waiting, opening the door with a grin and then a thorough kiss. He ran hands over his plating, pulling away enough to murmur, “You good? You pinged from Medbay.”

“Just some dents from Ironhide’s sessions,” Sideswipe reassured him, following him into the suite. “Nothing big, nothing to worry over. How about you? Training go alright?”

“Yeah we pulled off some fancy move Skydive pulled out the archives but he made us do it again and again,” Air Raid explained. “We all ache.”

“Hi Sideswipe,” Silverbolt greeted from where he was picking something out of Skydive’s back.

“Hey ‘Bolt, hi Skydive.” He watched them for a couple of seconds before Air Raid dragged him to another section of the sofa. “You didn’t get hurt though, any of you? No bent bits or dents?”

“No, we’re fine,” Air Raid replied.

“The tree that Fireflight hit on the other hand…” Slingshot started and Fireflight’s head shot up.

“That tree has a vendetta against me! That’s the second time it got bigger!”

That made Sideswipe cackle. “Trees grow, sweet thing,” he said, mirth heavy in his tone. “They get bigger, it’s what they do. _You’re_ meant to move out of _their_ way, not the other way around.”

“Oh,” Fireflight said. “I think Hound tried to explain it to me once. I think I stopped listening when the sun got involved somehow.”

“It’ll live,” Air Raid said dismissively. “It’s got a vendetta now.”

“Oh good, Fireflight’s brought the Triffids down on our heads. That’s going to end well,” Sideswipe sniggered. “Thanks, ‘Flight.”

“What’s a Triffid?” Air Raid asked, pushing at Sideswipe a little so he could climb into his lap and settle down against him more.

“Something Sunny read a while ago. ‘Day of the Triffids’ or something. Killer plants with a vendetta against humans, from what I gathered. Now we’re going to have them against Cybertronians.” Sideswipe pointed a digit at Fireflight imperiously while his other hand settled around Air Raid. “I blame you!”

“How the frag would a plant kill anyone?” Slingshot asked, suspicious. “It’s not like they can move.”

“Sunny won’t blame me,” Fireflight muttered.

“Then don’t ever look up the cashapona,” Sideswipe advised sagely, “might save your nightmares.” There was a pause, and then he barked a laugh. “Sunny says if the Triffids attack he absolutely blames you.”

Fireflight pouted. Air Raid poked Sideswipe. “Don’t be mean to him. That’s our job.”

Sideswipe’s grin didn’t abate though and he caught the digit Air Raid poked him with. “Don’t worry ‘Flight, Sunny says he’ll take you out tomorrow so you can forget all about it.”

Fireflight abated at that, looking less put out. Air Raid tugged at the digit, grinning, as he poked him with his other hand, ignoring his brothers as Silverbolt urged Skydive to his pedes.

“Some of us need to recharge,” Silverbolt said, optics on Skydive who didn’t protest.

“Then go, shoo,” Sideswipe replied, waving a hand towards Silverbolt. “Go get your beauty recharge. You look like you could do with a really good defrag.”

Skydive disappeared without a word, clearly the one struggling the most. Fireflight nudged Slingshot off the sofa to vague protests until he reminded him _Sideswipe_ was here and at that he fair scarpered into his own room. Silverbolt wrapped an arm around Fireflight and the youngest Aerial smiled happily before heading to his own berth.

“You know, when Sunstreaker isn’t here, he actually needs a hug before he recharges,” Silverbolt commented.

Sideswipe made an ‘aww’ sound, ignoring the mental smack from his twin. “That’s really cute. He gotten too used to snuggling with Sunny?”

Silverbolt nodded. “He’s not alone. Don’t stay up too much ‘Raid. You actually have an early shift that was nothing to do with me.”

“Prowl’s mean,” Air Raid protested and Silverbolt grinned before heading into his own room. Sideswipe waited until everyone was inside with doors closed before he lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper.

“What do you say to a prank on your brothers?”

Air Raid perked up instantly. “Yes!” he whispered back.

Sideswipe reached into subspace and brought out a couple of small tins of soluble paints, courtesy of his complicit other half, and waggled them at Air Raid, mischief glinting in his optics. “There’s more. You’ll just have to let me know when they’re all properly in recharge. With how tired they are, they shouldn’t wake up.”

“Count me in,” Air Raid replied, nodding. “Skydive will be the hardest. He always recharges light.”

“Hopefully it’ll be a bit easier with how much he needs his defrag.” Sideswipe put the couple pots in his hands on the table in front of them and dragged eight more and several small brushes out as well. “I’m thinking for him, we label as many parts of him as we can, but wrong. Or call them stupid names, like ‘wind oars’ for the wings or ‘jointed paddles’ for hands or something.”

“Stupid names,” Air Raid returned immediately. “‘Shot will die of laughter.”

“Sweet. Alright, what about ‘Shot himself? I saw this thing earlier this year where humans paint their faces to look like something else. For giggles, I think. I’m thinking... Triffid.”

“That’d be so mean to ‘Flight, to see that,” Air Raid sniggered. “I’m liking these ideas of yours. What else?”

“Bright pink and orange polka dots for Fireflight, really get those colors clashing. All over, everywhere we can reach,” Sideswipe continued, picking up a small tin of a rather luridly fluorescent shade of pink from the table.

Air Raid smirked. “Are you trying to get back at your brother?”

Sideswipe affected an appropriate look of shock, bringing his hand to his chestplates in mock outrage. “How dare you suggest such a thing, ‘Raid, I am far above such pettiness!” He put the paint down. “And even if I was, he only has himself to blame because he gave me the paints.”

“Sure, sure... And Silverbolt?” Air Raid stroked a hand down over Sideswipe’s chest.

“Silverbolt’s harder,” Sideswipe admitted, returning the gesture along wings fairly radiating contentment. “I was thinking an optical illusion of some kind, or just splatting paint and leaving handprints everywhere. What do you think?”

“Well unless you’ve got some hidden painting talent in there, I think an optical illusion is beyond my skill.” Air Raid settled in closer. “Splatters and handprints are less becoming of an officer too.”

“I mean, having an artist for a twin helps, otherwise I’d never have suggested the Triffid for Slingshot, but you’re right. I think an optical illusion would be beyond even my purview.” Sideswipe nodded and leaned back into the sofa, making Air Raid more comfortable. “Alright, we’ll go all sparkling on Silverbolt and splatter him up and handprint him everywhere. Now all we have to do is wait.”

“Mmm whatever could we do,” Air Raid murmured. “Because obviously we need to stay awake and not be too tired and make mistakes in this glorious prank and get caught.”

“That’s far more your problem than mine, babe,” Sideswipe chuckled. “And there are so many answers to that question. What would you like to do? Fullstasis? Truth or dare? Triad?” He grinned. “Arm wrestling?”

Air Raid groaned and dropped his head down onto Sideswipe’s chest before banging it repeatedly. “I’m blaming you if I fall into recharge and it will be your problem because I would be recharging on you.”

“Oh I’m sure I could wake you up somehow,” was Sideswipe’s laughing reply. “Besides, I have a much more pleasurable way to get you into recharge later, so don’t go missing out on that just yet.”

“And now I’m thinking about that,” Air Raid complained. “Anything that distracts me… I’m blaming you.”

“Aww, my poor flyer,” Sideswipe cooed, pressing a kiss to Air Raid’s forehelm. “So distracted he can’t prank his own brothers.”

“Would seem a waste of such a good idea with such an opportunity,” Air Raid pointed out, narrowing his optics.

“Well then stop getting distracted.”

Air Raid let out a little growl of frustration before pushing in to kiss Sideswipe, lingering and deep. Sideswipe laughed into the kiss, wrapping his arms around Air Raid and drawing the flyer up and into him until he was straddling the frontliner’s lap, all without breaking their liplock. Sideswipe thoroughly enjoyed teasing his lover like this, stringing him along until he snapped and took what he wanted, and the fact that Air Raid wanted him this much was still wonderful and made him ridiculously happy.

They stayed there for a fair while, alternating between quiet conversation and make-out sessions, Sideswipe never taking it any further or letting Air Raid do it, knowing how tired the Aerial was. Eventually Air Raid paused during one of their conversations, and his smile grew a little more wicked as he tipped his helm to the side slightly. Stealing one last kiss Air Raid slid off Sideswipe’s lap and the two of them made their way over to Skydive’s quarters first at the flyer’s word that all his brothers were now deep in recharge.

For the next hour and a half the two mechs worked diligently, starting with Skydive to get the lightest sleeper out of the way first just in case. Luckily Skydive was apparently just as exhausted as Sideswipe had hoped and only vaguely stirred while the two of them were marking his wings before dropping straight back into recharge. Silverbolt was next, a little more aware even in recharge than his brothers, but even he didn’t wake as Sideswipe and Air Raid gleefully splodged their brushes and painted hands against his frome everywhere they could reach.

Fireflight was next, soon covered in garish pinks and oranges, and Slingshot was saved until last as the Triffid was always going to be the most complex of the planned paintings. By the end of it though the bell shape of the flower filled most of Slingshot’s face while the stinger wrapped around the rest of it and ended at his shoulder as it came down his neck. All in all Sideswipe was rather proud of that masterpiece of a facepaint, and once they had sealed the paint pots and washed their brushes, and hands, the two of them stumbled into Air Raid’s quarters giggling like younglings at the mental expressions on the Aerialbots’ faces when they woke up the next morning.

“Glorious,” Sideswipe said dramatically, wiping a fake tear away from one optic. “I can’t wait to see their faces.”

“My alarm’s set so we don’t miss anything,” Air Raid grinned tiredly before rubbing at his face. “It’ll be great.”

“C’mon gorgeous,” the frontliner said, ushering Air Raid over to the berth, “let’s get you into recharge too. Sit down with your back to me, you’re gonna enjoy this.”

Air Raid gave him a quizzical look but did as he was told, legs spread across the berth as he sprawled out. He made a disgruntled noise when Sideswipe didn’t let him snuggle back into him though.

“Oh hush,” Sideswipe retorted mildly, running his digits up the middle of Air Raid’s wings and to his neck. Once he reached the neck he pressed his digits gently against the cabling and started up his piledriver systems on their lowest possible setting. The vibrations they emitted were very low, but more than enough to be felt, and he began to work his digits into Air Raid’s neck and upper shoulders. “This’ll help with the ache too.”

The noise that left Air Raid’s mouth was low and gratified. He immediately sank towards the hands, shuttering his optics. “Oh, oh, you can keep doing that. Just promise me you’ll do this again when I can stay awake to enjoy it.”

“Oh you can count on that babe,” Sideswipe said, kissing the back of Air Raid’s helm and digging into a particularly tense part of his shoulder, letting the vibrations work their magic. “I’ll do this as often as you want.”

“Definitely staying in your berth,” Air Raid replied, voice already dropping in volume, wings drooping as well. Sideswipe moved his hands down a little to the joints at the top of the flyer’s arms and the transformation seams around the wings, keeping his touches gentle but firm.

“You’ll get no complaints from me,” he murmured softly.

“Even if I stay forever?” Air Raid murmured, getting more limp with every passing second.

“I want you forever,” was Sideswipe’s soft reply, moving across a very relaxed back and sides now. “Just relax babe, let me take care of you.”

“Always do,” Air Raid breathed out and then the very last of his systems fell into low power state and he was in recharge. Sideswipe kept the massage up for a few moments after he felt Air Raid go into recharge to try and mitigate any remaining aches through his body, but it was a little tougher to tell whether he’d got everything when the patient was in no state to tell him about it. Instead he allowed Air Raid’s frame to slump against him and then he maneuvered them both into the berth properly, turning the flyer on his front so he wouldn’t sleep in his wings. Air Raid gave a little noise and unconsciously clung to him when he let go for a moment to adjust himself, and the frontliner chuckled as he made himself comfortable. 

Not too long later he was also in recharge.

When their alarm went off the next morning Sideswipe, mostly by virtue of being woken up suddenly in Medbay so often, jerked awake with a sharp intake, not dislodging his lover but most certainly disturbing him if he wasn’t already stirring, bleary optics blinking at the frontliner, who calmed almost immediately and grinned at Air Raid.

“Hello gorgeous. Ready to see the results of our handiwork? How are you feeling?”

Air Raid made a grumpy noise, stretching sleepily. “Don’t wanna get up but I wanna see. Comfy.”

“Anything hurting or sore?” Sideswipe started drawing circles across Air Raid’s lower arm.

“No, I’m good,” Air Raid replied, wiggling up enough to give Sideswipe a smile. “I want another massage.”

“Later,” promised Sideswipe, “after your shift.” He tweaked a wingtip, kissed Air Raid and sat up. “I’ll do it for as long as you want me to.”

Air Raid grinned. “Be careful what you promise.” He climbed off Sideswipe and the berth, stretching again, wings fully extending and rotating. Sideswipe gave him an appreciative noise at the view and then hopped off the berth himself. He dragged the Aerial out into the communal area and sat them down on the section of settee where they could see all the doors to the berth rooms, and then they waited with gleeful expressions.

They weren’t waiting long when Skydive’s door opened and the mech himself stepped out, flexing his wings and frame in a stretch. He looked surprised to see Sideswipe and Air Raid already up, and his expression schooled into one of vague suspicion. “You’re up early.”

“I may have got this one to berth a little later than intended,” Sideswipe said nonchalantly, thumbing at Air Raid, “so I had to make sure he was up for shift today.”

Skydive opened his mouth to say something else, but Silverbolt appeared through his door looking far more awake than anyone, in Sideswipe’s opinion, had any right to be this early in the damn morning. He waved to the Aerialbot leader from the settee. Silverbolt clearly had the same suspicions as Skydive but then he and Skydive clocked each other and had about ten seconds of silent staring before simultaneously turning to face Air Raid and Sideswipe.

Air Raid grinned. “You both look fabulous.”

Sideswipe nodded solemnly in agreement, though his optics sparkled. “Masterpieces! I daresay Sunny will be proud. Who knows, maybe he’ll even let me put you on display.”

Skydive was looking at what was written over his own plating now and scowling in annoyance. Silverbolt put his hands on his hips as he assessed them both. “Whilst I’m sure _both_ of you did this, I am squarely blaming Sideswipe for instigating this. Air Raid was far too tired last night to have thought of this and Sideswipe, you’ve got access to paint.”

Sideswipe stood up and affected a sweeping bow. “Guilty as charged, milord,” he returned cheekily. “You look good like that, ‘Bolt. I’d be tempted to keep it.”

Silverbolt rubbed a hand over his face and was about to answer when there was a shriek from Fireflight’s room and he came running out. “What did you do! Sunny will hate it!”

Sideswipe couldn’t help it, and he started laughing uproariously at the expression on Fireflight’s face. He did look utterly ridiculous in all his garish glory, but it was the two circles around his optics - one pink, one orange - that really did it for the frontliner. “Oh ‘Flight,” he got out between gales of laughter, “your face right now!”

His hands flew up to his face. “What did you do! I’m calling Sunny… no I shouldn’t. He won’t like it. I have to get clean before he sees!”

Skydive was trying not to laugh now, distracted from his own plating and Silverbolt was just staring at the ceiling in exasperation.

“Too late,” Sideswipe giggled, tapping his chestplates. “He says my edges need work, they’re fuzzy and not at all crisp.”

“And I _clash_! Sunny explained all about picking complementary colors!” Fireflight whined, picking at paint on his arm.

“At least you’re not labelled like some human child got at you,” Skydive replied, holding out an arm, or ‘armie’ as Air Raid had written.

“Will you lot be quiet!” Slingshot suddenly snapped from his doorway. “Some of us don’t have to be up yet!”

Everyone turned to look at him and silence reigned for a long moment as he registered what his teammates looked like and they got a good look at his face.

“You need to keep that,” Skydive said.

“My best work so far in terms of details,” Sideswipe said dramatically, mirth still heavy in his tone. “I’m proud of that one.”

“You what?” Slingshot started and then clearly got an image from someone else and stopped dead. 

“It is kinda cool ‘Shot,” Fireflight added before pointing at Skydive. “Did you see his wings?”

Slingshot blinked, read ‘flappy bits that make you go wheeeeee’ and started cackling. Air Raid sniggered happily from the sofa.

“Tell you what,” Sideswipe said, gesturing at Skydive, “finding alternate names for body parts is a lot harder than you’d think. Should be easy, but nope.” He started laughing again at a _look_ from Skydive. “Oh don’t worry, it’s all water soluble. It’ll wash off with a good scrub in the racks, we’re not that mean.”

All four painted Aerialbots turned to look at Air Raid who tipped over sideways on the sofa and started laughing hysterically. “I didn’t… I didn’t tell you…” he gasped out. “I haven’t got the… washrack… fixed…. We have to use..the… the communal ones...”

Sideswipe’s optics widened at that and he whipped around to stare at his lover. He was silent for several seconds. “You sneaky little glitch!” he cackled admiringly. “Look at you, you’re learning!”

Air Raid gestured at Sideswipe. “Learnt from the best!”

“Well I’m going back into recharge!” Slingshot declared grumpily, still not pleased at having been woken. 

Fireflight stared at his own plating pathetically. “I think I need some help to get this off.”

“The Sunbot’s willing to lend you a hand with my “horrendous excuse for sharp edges” if you like,” Sideswipe told him, air-quoting his twin.

Silverbolt turned to look at Skydive. “We better get going then otherwise we’ll be stuck in there with the pair of them.”

Skydive wrinkled up his noseplates. “No thanks.”

Fireflight let out a pathetic little noise. “I’ll hide in my room then.” And with that he disappeared again.

Sideswipe and Air Raid exchanged a look and began giggling again, the former flopping back down onto the sofa. “I think ‘Bolt should go to his meeting like that, don’t you Raid? It’d liven things up a bit.”

“If any of it survives after Skydive’s clean, maybe,” Silverbolt smiled slightly. “But you did say it was water soluble.”

“It was only to make you all laugh at each other, not be mean,” Sideswipe replied, pulling a leg into his lap and gesturing vaguely around the suite. “I mean, I could have done it permanent, but that wasn’t the point of the prank.”

“We know,” Silverbolt reassured him before glancing at Air Raid. “And I’d like to think Air Raid wouldn’t let you but it’s difficult to say now.”

Air Raid smirked, knowing there wasn’t any real meaning behind the words. Skydive nudged Silverbolt and he nodded, letting him lead them to the door.

“Obviously that doesn’t mean that you’re immune to anything in return,” Silverbolt grinned.

“I look forward to your attempts,” retorted Sideswipe good-naturedly, waggling his digits goodbye at them. “I’m not the king of pranks in the Ark for nothing, y’know.”

Silverbolt made a non-committal noise and followed Skydive out the room. Air Raid sat himself back up again. “I think that might have been worth getting up for.”

Sideswipe glanced over at him, amusement still in his voice. “I think that went rather well, don’t you? I rather enjoyed Fireflight’s reaction, I have to say.”

“He thinks Sunny will hate how he looks now,” Air Raid replied. “Apparently he’s forgotten that love makes you see past all that.”

Sideswipe rolled his optics hard at that, tilted his helm to one side for a few seconds, then snorted lightly. “Sunny will be here in a few minutes to smack some sense into him. And me, probably.”

“Now this I want to see,” Air Raid grinned. “Nice to see someone’s got some control over you.”

Sideswipe waved a dismissive hand. “Please, he has about as much control over me as the humans do over the weather. He just likes smacking me when I’ve done something idiotic. Won’t stop me from doing it again, but it makes him feel better. After all,” he added, winking at Air Raid, “what are little siblings for besides trying to usurp their older ones?”

The flyer laughed. “I don’t think ‘Flight’s ever tried to do that.” He leant in closer to Sideswipe. “So you saying you’re a free spirit, no one’s got any control over you, do what you like?”

“Pretty much,” Sideswipe agreed almost blithely, before jabbing a digit gently into Air Raid’s chestplates. “But I reckon you’ve got a good shot, gorgeous.”

“Oh, do you think so?” Air Raid replied, trailing his digits over Sideswipe’s chest. “Why do you think that?”

“Because,” the frontliner purred, leaning towards Air Raid, “I actually listen to those I love. Whether I follow their advice is another matter, but I listen. And I do love you.”

Air Raid smiled, pleased and content. “Strange. It’s the same for me too. Who I listen to, who I love.”

“Weird that.” Sideswipe caught Air Raid up in a kiss, gentle and loving. Air Raid slipped a hand up behind Sideswipe’s head to keep him there and prolong the kiss as long as he was allowed. At some point he had a shift, but he really didn’t care. Sideswipe didn’t pay any attention either, his focus almost entirely on the Aerial in his arms, but he did hear a disgusted noise behind him eventually that, when he did leave Air Raid’s lips, he found belonged to Sunstreaker, who was glaring at the both of them.

Stalking over the golden twin smacked Sideswipe smartly around the helm, leaving him to rub ruefully at it. “Stop giving Fireflight a complex,” he grumbled.

“You gave me the paints,” Sideswipe pointed out, grinning. “Not sure what else you expected, brother mine.”

“Urgh.” Sunstreaker kicked at his twin half-sparkedly and then disappeared into Fireflight’s room. They had time to hear a mortified squeak from inside just before the door closed, but less than a minute later Sunstreaker came back out dragging Fireflight by one arm, looking half-exasperated. “Honestly,” he was saying as they made their way to the door of the suites, “it’s fragging _washable_ , ‘Flight. I don’t love you any less just because Sides is a moron.”

“No, I didn’t think you would!” Fireflight protested. “I just remember what you said about clashing colors, and being clean and tidy. I just want to look my best, how you like it.”

“That’s _my_ preference on _me_ ,” Sunstreaker retorted. “You can do what you like with your colors, I’m hardly going to stop you. Whatever you want is fine by me.” The frontliner sighed as he cycled open the door and shoved Fireflight out into the corridor. “ _Flyers_.”

They could still hear Fireflight protesting as the door slid shut behind them and Air Raid sniggered. “Would you care what color I was?”

“Nah.” Sideswipe poked his lover on the side of his helm gently. “I might laugh at you a little if they’re utterly ridiculous, but I wouldn’t care. You’re still gorgeous to me.”

“I like how well we match,” Air Raid admitted. “All red, white and black.”

Sideswipe put his arm against Air Raid’s chest, his red ever so slightly darker than the Aerial’s, and smiled. “I do too. But then, I like how well we match in everything.” He moved a hand up to Air Raid’s wings, then matched his upper arm to the flyer’s sides. “A complete set.”

Air Raid’s digits trailed down to Sideswipe’s pelvis and traced around the white marking and then used his other hand to trace his own white triangle. “A very complete set.”

Sideswipe’s smile widened, and he abruptly lurched forwards to kiss Air Raid thoroughly, but kept it short and sweet. “We can explore how complete later, babe, but I think you’ve got somewhere to be pretty quick here, don’t you?”

Air Raid vented out hard. “Do I _have_ to?”

“Unless you want Prowl up your vents about it.”

Air Raid made a disgruntled noise but heaved himself off the sofa. “You make a disgustingly valid point.”

Sideswipe laughed, following the Aerial’s example. “Go on gorgeous, I’ll be waiting for you when you get off shift.”

Air Raid sneaked another quick kiss before heading out the door, pace quick because he was verging on being late. “You better be!”

Sideswipe watched him leave and shook his head. “I will,” he said in the wake of the Aerial, and then left the Aerialbots’ suite to head back to his own room for a quick nap and a catch up with his latest game.


	2. Epilogue

It was actually one of the weirdest feelings in the world, knowing the war was finally over but not truly believing it. Most of the other Autobots were in a similar boat; the war had been raging for so long with such devastating results that it just one day, suddenly, was over was... almost unfathomable. Sideswipe wasn’t really sure what to do with himself after the remaining Decepticons surrendered and Rodimus officially declared the war over. For a lack of anything else to do he threw himself into helping rebuild, negotiating with humans and the few remaining Neutrals and, later, a few aliens, for supplies and materials.

It was an old dance that he’d never forgotten, and it was good to get back into it and still feel useful to the restoration efforts.

Air Raid shadowed him sometimes and helped when he could, even if it was only to take stocks, prices or play runner between Sideswipe and whoever the frontliner was working with. He also became the first of the Aerialbots to meet an alien that wasn’t human - though, humans didn’t really count as aliens for them - and the flyer actually managed to still himself the entire time until they’d left, at which point Air Raid promptly started happily freaking out and taunting his brothers in equal measure. Sideswipe had just shaken his head fondly and let Air Raid celebrate, pleased himself at his lover’s elation.

They too had moved in together almost as soon as Sunstreaker and Fireflight had, but unlike them Air Raid had actually asked Sideswipe instead of the frontliner just kind of... appearing. It was as natural as everything else about their relationship though, and it helped to keep the twins close together as well. They merged regularly, and it now wasn’t uncommon for the Aerials to come back to their suites to find the twins curled up together on the settee in the main common area. It was a testament to how much they really trusted the Aerialbots that they were a little less picky about where they chose to merge.

And sometimes they did sleep together if they were feeling particularly apart, using one or the other of their habsuites to recharge in, and Air Raid and Fireflight either spent the night in the same room in the other suite or simply joined the twins to make a warm, cozy mech-pile. It worked for them, and it worked well, and both Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were infinitely grateful for understanding lovers who gave them exactly what they needed.

There were still mechs that didn’t understand why the twins had taken up with the Aerialbots, or vice-versa, but as annoying as it was to deal with it in the Ark it was far easier now. Most were too relieved that the war was over and too concentrated on rebuilding that they didn’t have time for things that weren’t any of their business. It was amazing how quickly gossip died down when they weren’t forced into tiny, cramped living spaces where their only entertainment was each other. Most of the time now both Sunstreaker and Sideswipe simply sneered at the offender and told them to take it up with Rodimus.

Hot Rod had been ecstatic to see both the twins again, and Sideswipe was pleased that Arcee had survived as well. He figured she, out of everyone, would have been the most likely to. Taking on the Matrix had changed Rodimus in some ways, but he was still most definitely Hot Rod at spark and anyone who tried to take the twins’ advice were quickly shot down and pasted across the floor with words alone. Only two had tried so far and both of them had relocated from Autobot City not long afterwards.

Things were changing, slowly but surely. First Aid had opened his own clinic on Cybertron while Ratchet maintained the one on Earth, giving all the recovering Cybertronians somewhere to go. Swoop stayed with Ratchet to carry on his studies in a much more sedate environment, as did Skyfire and Perceptor for different reasons. Hoist and Grapple joined First Aid’s team as they’d missed Cybertron and relished the challenge of getting things up and running once more there. Ratchet and Skyfire carried on studying both the Aerialbots and the twins in an attempt to understand them and their bonds better, and - Sideswipe was fairly certain - so Skyfire had more of an excuse to get his hands on Silverbolt.

Not that either of them needed much encouragement.

Iacon became the center for their rebuilding efforts on Cybertron, something about it being symbolic as the planet’s capital city, and some of the Neutrals had started opening up shops, oil houses or entertainment centers as and when they could. Sideswipe took Air Raid out to an oil house not long after one opened so he could get a feel for the selections that used to be available during the Golden Age. They had a long way to go before they got to that stage again, but it was a start, and a hopeful one at that.

Of course now that trade had been opened with Cybertron Sideswipe took some incentive to be a little selfish, and bought a whole set of ingredients with which he could start experimenting or using to make lots of different goodies and edibles. With the first deliveries Sideswipe had gone a bit overboard with his culinary arts, so when Air Raid returned from a session the Aerials had had with Skyfire and Perceptor one evening he’d opened the door to a myriad of scents and a very busy kitchen. It was chaotic but not messy, and there was a definite method to the madness.

Sideswipe hadn’t heard his lover come in, engrossed as he was in puzzling out a recipe card with a bowl in front of him half-filled with ingredients. Therefore the frame that molded itself to his back startled him, but he automatically covered the hands that slipped around his waist with one of his own in acknowledgement.

“Hey babe,” he said a little absently, still studying the card, “got some things for you to try if you give me a minute.”

“Willing as always,” Air Raid replied, pressing a series of kisses up the back of Sideswipe’s helm.

There was silence for several seconds before a quiet, “ _Ohhhh_ ,” at which point he pushed the bowl towards another set of ingredients and turned around in Air Raid’s grip. “I’ve been wanting to do this for you for ages,” he murmured, more in the here and now, “though I think I may have gone a bit wild.”

Air Raid grinned. “If you’re going to fill our kitchen with this many good things, I think I’m going to have to encourage you to go wild more often.”

“I have missed this, so you’ll be seeing it every so often I reckon, as and when I can get hold of what I need.” He touched Air Raid’s face, then slipped out of his grasp to the far end of the counter. The frontliner picked up a smallish slice of something that looked like filling wrapped in a flaky coating. “Aspis,” Sideswipe said somewhat proudly. “It was a delicacy of Vos. A pain in the aft to make if you don’t know what you’re doing, but lucky for you, I do.”

Air Raid followed him over to take a better look at it before opening his mouth for Sideswipe to feed him. He made an appreciative noise at the taste, licking his lips when he was done and pulling Sideswipe closer. “I really did find a mech who can do everything.”

“Only for you, gorgeous.” Sideswipe kissed him soundly before reaching behind the Aerial for something else. He pulled back holding a delicate-looking flattened oval and held it up. “Parsin wafers, also Vosian,” he announced. “Really sweet, they were used as a kind of chaser while drinking at parties so mechs could go on for longer.”

Air Raid chuckled softly and opened his mouth again to be fed. He kissed the digits before they escaped. “I like it, though I think maybe I like the other one better.”

“I figured you would. Just wanted to give you some tastes from where you probably would have grown up had you been sparked on Cybertron. It was the city of flyers.” Sideswipe gestured around him. “I’ve got about four more things from various cities, including something from Praxus that I want to send for Blue and Smokey and Prowl. I’m working on some standard gelled candies right now.”

"Whatever you want to feed me," Air Raid grinned. "You know I'll try anything twice. You're doing a good thing. You've got a big spark." 

“We need a little something good after centuries of slag.” Sideswipe wrapped his arms around Air Raid’s waist and tucked his face into the flyer’s shoulder. “It’s all yours, babe. All yours.”

Air Raid pressed a kiss to Sideswipe’s helm. "I know and I'm so slagging lucky."

Sideswipe stayed there for a couple of minutes, just enjoying Air Raid so close to him, and then with a press of his lips to the flyer’s shoulder he went back to the bowl still sat on the counter. Air Raid instead took up next to the things Sideswipe had already made, trying at least one of each and asking about everything he picked up. He and Sideswipe spent the rest of the evening talking, snacking, making a second batch of the aspis (as apparently one just wouldn’t be enough for all the Aerials and Air Raid _really_ liked them) and having a bit of a food fight. The cleanup from that was a rather tasty affair that neither of them would say no to a second time.

The next day Air Raid helped Sideswipe out with some deliveries, leaving out several treats for the Aerialbots to try along with placards about each one in case they cared or didn’t like certain flavors. Their first stop was Bluestreak, and the young mech cried in bittersweet delight when he opened the box and realized what was inside. He’d clung to Sideswipe for ages, bawling his optics out and thanking him over and over and over. Sideswipe took it all in stride, hugging the gunner back and offering reassurances and promises to make more whenever he wanted. 

Apparently Bluestreak still hadn’t stopped crying by the time Wheeljack came home to him later on in the day.

Smokescreen was ecstatic at his delivery, accepting it with profuse thanks and a promise to enjoy every last bite. Sideswipe received a message from him later that said he’d gotten the recipe pretty much dead on and the memories it all invoked were good and happy.

Last was Prowl. Despite all the grief that Sideswipe and Sunstreaker had put him through since becoming part of the tactician’s unit and the resentment over punishments that were (unjustly) doled out the twins respected him hugely, and with the war finished Prowl had moved from tactician to the coordination of rebuilding, something that made him far happier. He was more relaxed and no longer so stringent on rules or regulations. He still kept the peace inside Autobot City though, old Enforcer protocols coming to the fore, and was still sometimes seen dragging inebriated or belligerent mechs back to the newly set-up precinct for sobering up and punishment.

He too was surprised by the parcel Sideswipe gave him, and even more so when he opened it to see what was inside. He’d stared at the box for several long minutes without a word, and then, with far more emotion than Sideswipe had ever heard or seen from him, looked up and simply said, “ _thank you_.”

The frontliner counted that as a win as he left to start the less interesting aspects of his new position as part of the logistics force, Air Raid following and helping him with that as well until he was called away to aid his brothers in something else. It was nice to bring something good to a bunch of mechs who’d lost everything to the war.

  
  


-x-

  
  


Sideswipe knew exactly what Sunstreaker’s plan was as soon as Skyfire and Perceptor and Ratchet had given their theoretical verdicts on both the twins’ bond and the Aerialbots’ bond. The two of them had never let theory stand in their way before, so he saw no reason why they would let it start now. It took a little while as Sunstreaker was waiting on a specific day, but the morning of that day Sideswipe knew that he would either have a new permanent member of the family or a failed bonding to deal with. Sideswipe honestly wasn’t sure what would happen if the bonding failed, so he simply waited and hoped that it would work, that it would all work and Ratchet’s theories weren’t wrong.

Thankfully their bonding was a huge success, and Sideswipe was ecstatic. His brother had someone else now, someone permanently a part of him and intrinsically linked to support him and guide him and love him, and it left the red mech almost as high as Sunstreaker himself.

He wasn’t, however, expecting the bond to link _him_ to Fireflight as well, even if their connection was much more tangential. He supposed he should have, as twins were linked in a whole different way to the Aerials, but it was still a shock to hear Fireflight’s ‘voice’ reverberating through him. It wasn’t as deep as it could have been; he couldn’t tell what Fireflight and Sunstreaker were talking about over the bond (and he only knew they even were because of Sunstreaker) and he had to deliberately try to open up their link before it would work, but it was there nonetheless. It was very, very weird, Sideswipe concluded, being able to contact a mech through a bond when you weren’t the one bonded to them.

It took a long while for their bond to settle down and mellow out that they could stand to be away from each other for any decent length of time, and Sideswipe suspected it would be much longer before they were truly comfortable being apart for indeterminate amounts of time considering the sparks involved.

Sideswipe would absolutely be lying if he said he hadn’t thought about bonding to his own lover before Sunstreaker and Fireflight tried it, and it was definitely on his processors from time to time, but he was in no hurry and neither was Air Raid apparently. They’d been a much more easy-going couple in some regards, including making the decision to get together, so he didn’t see why this would be any different.

Still, there was something incredibly appealing about it, Sideswipe mused one morning as he watched Air Raid recharge, and he really wanted to bond with the mech that had captured his spark so utterly and cared for it so much. He knew he was loved completely, and that the feeling was more than mutual. The soft smile he wore widened a little and he leaned down to press his lips briefly to Air Raid’s.

The flyer made a vaguely low noise but didn’t even stir beyond the twitch of a wing. Sideswipe ran a digit down the shifting appendage and then leaned down again to trail a series of kisses from Air Raid’s mouth to his hips, gentle and reverent and just a little bit teasing. Another wing twitch and a soft ex-vent had Sideswipe chuckling lowly. He’d woken up and partially got out of berth with the thought of waking his lover with a morning treat Air Raid had rapidly become fond of when Sideswipe started cooking more seriously as more ingredients became available to him, but he had something else in mind now.

He kissed a line back up and down Air Raid’s frame, stopping briefly to pepper them across his chestplates, and then lowered his mouth even further to tease across seams and hip joints and a sealed interface panel. His digits carefully found their way into the inside of both hips, slow and gentle enough not to wake Air Raid but firm enough to get a reaction. The unconscious shift to get closer to the pleasure turned Sideswipe’s smile into a full-blown grin, and he pushed the legs out a little more so he could work unhindered.

It took much longer than if he were awake but eventually under Sideswipe’s loving ministrations there was a faint click and the flyer’s interface panel slid open. The frontliner’s engine rumbled happily and he ran a digit over the port a couple of times until the cover cycled open as well with a low noise and arching of unconscious hips from Air Raid. Immediately Sideswipe’s lips were around the revealed node, sucking lightly and laving his glossa over it. A breathy noise this time, and a fan started up as Air Raid’s wings twitched and raised.

He carried on in a similar vein until he was sure the valve was reacting the way he wanted, and then he gave a good hard suction to the node as he slipped a digit easily into it. It rippled around him and as he reached the knuckle Air Raid’s hips lifted off the berth almost entirely, briefly, accompanied by a proper moan. A hand landed unsteadily and uncoordinated on his helm, movements a little sluggish, and Sideswipe grinned before adding a second digit, pulling away with his lips so he could look up at optics watching him still half in recharge and not quite yet in the land of the living.

“Morning gorgeous,” he said cheekily, starting to pump his digits slowly. “Sorry, did I wake you?”

Air Raid let out another moan, hand weakly clenching against Sideswipe’s helm and he shuddered, wings twitching. “Thought it was a really good dream,” he murmured sleepily.

“No, just a really good wakeup call.” Sideswipe twisted his digits and started scissoring them, pressing kisses to the inside of one thigh. “I was going to make you something to eat, but you looked too tasty yourself.”

Air Raid’s hips rose off the berth again. “Best wakeup call,” he replied, voice breathless. “Yours, please.”

“Glad you’re enjoying it.” Sideswipe added a third digit, Air Raid’s valve now well-lubricated and loosening easily under his motions. He sat up a little to watch the flyer, optics bright. “Shame you woke early though, I wanted to wake you up with my spike.”

A whine crawled out of Air Raid. “Want that, sorry.” He dug his digits into the berth, legs spreading more, knees hitching up a little. “You like teasing. Could just take me.”

“Could,” Sideswipe agreed, “but you know I’d never hurt you. And I do like teasing you, you’re so good at begging for more.” He began pumping and flexing his digits in earnest, teasing and stretching in equal measure. “Bet I could give you it all again, couldn’t I?”

“Please.” Air Raid nodded. “Always want all of you.” He brought his knees up more, latching onto them with his hands to hold them up and pull them apart. “Please Sides.”

“Someone’s eager,” Sideswipe purred. Dutifully though he added a fourth digit, sinking them up to the knuckle and twisting, using his thumb to press and flick across the node. “Look at you, so wanton.” His thumb slid over the node and then began to press into the valve too. “So needy.”

“ _Sides_!” Air Raid choked out, hips rolling and squirming under the pressure. His back lifted off the berth even as his shoulders and head stayed pressed into the covers and his grip tightened on his thighs, but he stayed willing and open beneath Sideswipe. The frontliner flexed his digits, moving his hand as he did so and keeping his optics firmly on Air Raid’s face. He could feel the lubricant sliding down his wrist and it made his engine rev a little. After a moment a devious little grin touched Sideswipe’s lips and he lowered himself a little into Air Raid’s body.

“Might wanna let go, gorgeous,” he murmured, just before sending a small shockwave through his hand.

Air Raid screamed, or at least started to before his vocalizer glitched out. Everything in his body locked up, valve cycled down hard around Sideswipe’s hand and his overload powered through him. He left dents in his own plating, unable to lift his hands away as he shuddered his way through his overload. Sideswipe watched with appreciative optics, working his digits through the flyer’s overload and resisting the temptation to do another shockwave right away. He waited until Air Raid started to relax a little and then sent another pulse from his piledrivers through his hand, leaning down to press kisses to Air Raid’s abdomen.

There was a spew of static from Air Raid’s vocalizer as another overload ripped through him. His hands landed on Sideswipe’s head, digits digging in as he sobbed. His valve was rippling around Sideswipe’s hand, uncontrolled and Air Raid didn’t know what his body was doing. He was too overwhelmed to register anything. Sideswipe’s interface array sliding open and spike extension went totally unnoticed by both mechs, Air Raid far too caught up in his own body and Sideswipe lost in watching his lover. He waited until Air Raid was coming down again, then slowly began to ease his hand from the flyer’s valve and crawl up Air Raid’s body, nudging gently at the hands on his helm before lowering his lips to Air Raid’s.

“Morning, lover.”

Air Raid whined, kissing Sideswipe clumsily. His knees were still raised and he pulled them in closer as best he could, still not really with it yet, still trying to come down from two intense overloads, one right after the other. Over all of that was his now empty valve clenching down on nothing and sending him signals that it needed filling, despite the fact Air Raid couldn’t even vent properly yet. Sideswipe kissed him slow and deep, letting his engine rumble gently over Air Raid’s front and giving the flyer time to come down a little. Sideswipe had never given him two overloads so close together and it had been something to behold. Eventually the frontliner pulled back and looked steadily down at Air Raid with bright violet optics.

“Next time I’ll take you while you’re still coming down. And you won’t be able to stop me.” He increased the weight pressing down on Air Raid a little, dragging the tip of his spike over the flyer’s still spasming valve. “You won’t be able to do anything but take it.”

Air Raid fumbled his hands down to Sideswipe’s side, legs tightening up more around his hips. “Want it,” he begged hoarsely. “Always take it for you. Yours.”

“Yeah, you will,” Sideswipe mused. He dragged his spike over the waiting valve again. “My little spike slut, so ready and eager and waiting.” He started pressing his spike into Air Raid almost agonizingly slowly, lowering his head so their lips were barely brushing. “Such a good whore you are.”

Air Raid’s hands tightened on Sideswipe’s sides with enough force to dent, a desperate cry rising from his mouth. His valve welcomed the spike but it was almost enough to drag another overload from him, he was still so sensitive and Sideswipe’s words were only spurning him on. “Your whore, your slut, _please_. Fill me, want it.”

“Fill you huh?” Sideswipe bottomed out and rolled his hips, then sealed his lips briefly to Air Raid’s. “I suppose I can do that, you’ve been good enough.” He slid almost completely back out and then slammed back in, his hips picking up a steady rhythm almost straight away. “And to think, I’ll have exhausted you before you’ve even woken up.”

Sideswipe’s thrusts dragged another cry from Air Raid. “Stay in your berth. Always.” Another overload was already hovering and the flyer was completely lost in the sea of pleasure. Sideswipe was always so good to him, giving what he needed, even when he didn’t know what it was. Air Raid had a sudden, overwhelming urge to give everything to Sideswipe and no reason not to.

His chest plates split down the center, sliding back around his vents to reveal an almost aquamarine spark pulsing in its casing. With Sideswipe’s spark so close Air Raid could feel it trying to reach out. The action shocked Sideswipe into stillness temporarily, staring first at Air Raid’s spark and then at his face. He could feel his own spark spinning in his chest, wanting out, but he kept the command for his chestplates to ‘closed.’ He shifted his weight onto one hand to use the other to touch at the corona of Air Raid’s spark, motions delicate and worshipful and a little awe-filled. He leaned up and kissed Air Raid gently, in utter contrast to his previous actions.

“Ask me again when I’m done with you,” he said lowly, perhaps a little huskily, “and I’ll say yes.”

Air Raid shuddered at the touch to his spark. One hand rose to grasp at Sideswipe’s arm and the other his chest. “ _Please_. I love you. All of me, it’s yours, always.”

Sideswipe’s hips started moving again as he allowed the tendrils of Air Raid’s spark to snap at his digits. “And all that I am will be yours, babe, I promise. Ask me again when I’m done with you.” He pressed a kiss against the parted chestplates. “I love you.”

Air Raid whined softly, attention being pulled in two directions as his valve reminded him how sensitive and close to overload he was whilst his spark was reveling in new sensations under Sideswipe’s digits. He wasn’t sure he could even close his chest plates. “Want you so bad.”

Despite the surprise of Air Raid opening his chest Sideswipe himself was rapidly closing on his own overload. Watching Air Raid go through two almost immediately one after the other and feeling him around his hand and spike had already got him running hot, but seeing Air Raid so desperate and open underneath him with his spark on display did something entirely new to him. The spark lashed at his digittips and pulsed warmly under his touch and Sideswipe’s hips stuttered as energy spiked at the base of his spine, threatening overload. He picked up the pace and depth of his thrusts, dragging a digit around the inside of Air Raid’s spark chamber. “Overload,” he growled lowly. “Let me _see_ you.”

Air Raid flung his head back as his third overload hit, optics shuttering and valve squeezing down around the thick heat, trying to keep it locked inside. His spark pulsed and swirled, flaring with the excess of energy burning through his body. “Sides, Sides please!”

Sideswipe watched as the beautiful spark he was playing with - everything Air Raid - turned almost white as overload hit, and with the open chestplates the energy came rushing through him in a totally different way from normal and the frontliner wasn’t expecting it. He shuddered into his own overload, crying Air Raid’s name and burying himself deep into the slick heat of the flyer’s valve. It was familiar, oh-so-familiar now, but he never grew tired of it. He loved watching Air Raid lose it, feel himself lose it in his lover’s body.

He dropped to his elbows and bent down to kiss Air Raid, warm and deep, feeling the heat from a recently overloaded spark radiating from the Aerial’s chest and his own jumping in response, wanting _out_. The frontliner waited until Air Raid’s fans quieted and he’d come down from his third overload, tired and sated, before pulling back from the kiss and looking him straight in the optics.

“Are you positive?” he asked quietly. “You weren’t in the right headspace earlier. I just want to be sure this is what you want.”

Air Raid lifted a hand to the side of Sideswipe’s face, gently running his thumb over his lips. “Any situation, any headspace, I would still want this. _All_ of me wants you Sideswipe. My spark has been yours for years, along with the rest of me.”

“Good.” Sideswipe pulled back up and slid out of Air Raid’s body, only to bring the Aerial up into a sitting position with him. “It’s more comfortable upright.” He pressed a kiss to Air Raid’s forehelm and finally allowed his nagging command through, splitting his own chestplates to reveal a spark of a much darker blue, letting his lover see him for the first time.

Air Raid let out a soft vent, almost like a sigh. He reached up to gently run digits down the outside of the spark chamber, feeling his own spark jump at how close Sideswipe’s was. The instinct and need to merge was now all Air Raid could feel, even over the hot, wet mess seeping from his valve and the deep ache from being used so well. The frontliner shuddered and dropped his head to Air Raid’s shoulder, letting him explore for a moment before dragging the inquisitive digits away. No sooner had he done that he pressed in as close to Air Raid as he could and his spark automatically, eagerly, began reaching out tendrils to ensnare the spark in front of it. There was no hesitation, just want and need. Sideswipe only just managed to retain the wherewithal to pulse at Sunstreaker to block himself off before raising his head and kissing up his lover’s neck.

“Mine,” he growled shakily. “Forever.”

Air Raid nodded, hands gripping at Sideswipe’s arms. His own spark was reaching out with tendrils as well and for the first time met another spark. That first brush sent a shiver through the flyer and he arched impossibly closer. “ _Sides_ …” Air Raid breathed out.

This was a dance that Sideswipe was intimately familiar with, one that he cherished and loved and knew felt impossibly intense and incredibly right. This spark was not Sunstreaker’s, however, and their merging was slower and much more exploratory than what Sideswipe was used to. It wasn’t that long before they were fully merged though, and Sideswipe was overwhelmed with nothing but Air Raid and it was incredible. He could feel himself nose up a little higher into Air Raid’s cheek and nuzzle it gently and it sent a thrill through him.

: _I love you_ ,: he pulsed over at Air Raid, and then dived into his lover’s spark. He took his time going through every last little part of Air Raid, examining and embracing each and every thing that made up the Aerial he’d fallen in love with, before stopping at Air Raid’s very core. He paused only to bathe in the purest form of the flyer and then he opened his own core, beginning the link that would irrevocably tie them together.

The words brought out a surge of love and devotion from Air Raid as he let Sideswipe in to the deepest part of himself and in return saw and accepted each bit of Sideswipe. It was so very different to the bond he shared with his brothers, far deeper and intimate and a little overwhelming because he really, truly understood the love the other mech held for him. He knew Sideswipe loved him but to be utterly bathed in was so very different.

As ever it was simultaneously an age and an instant, immersed as they were in each other and neither wanting to leave, time wholly irrelevant to them both. Their sparks made the decision for them, Sideswipe being the first to start surfacing back to the outside world. They were still in exactly the same position, Air Raid pressed as close as he could possibly get and Sideswipe wrapped around him with his face against the flyer’s cheek. He could feel when Air Raid returned to his body properly and he pulled back only enough to send a blinding smile at the blinking Aerial who was looking a little disoriented.

: _Hey gorgeous_ ,: he sang across their connection, the use as natural as venting, : _come here often?_ :

Air Raid started laughing, a clear memory surfacing between them of the brig. : _Didn’t you call that a bad line?_ : He studied Sideswipe’s face, a wide smile in place and reached out with all of his love.

: _Never said I wouldn’t use it._ : Sideswipe cocooned Air Raid up in his own surge of love even as their sparks slowly started to separate. It was very odd feeling another presence inside his spark that wasn’t Sunstreaker, and he unconsciously placed his digits against his spark chamber, but the presence was so full of love and joy and victory and it felt really really good. He watched Air Raid’s spark settle back into its chamber and touched at it lightly. : _You’re beautiful._ :

Air Raid knew that Sideswipe could now feel how he reacted to the compliments, how it made him feel cherished and special. : _So are you, in every way._ : He reached up to cup Sideswipe’s face between both hands and kissed him, slow but deep. : _Now I’m yours, in every way._ :

: _Just as I’m yours._ : Sideswipe reached over to brush down Air Raid’s wings and shivered as the sensation fed back to him. : _All that I am. Primus, babe, I love you._ :

: _Love you too, so much. Now you’ll be able to feel what you do to me, why I need you so much._ : Air Raid leant back a little, breaking the kiss and grinning. : _Why I’d let you do anything._ :

: _I’ll be able to feel how much you love it, how much you want it, react to your every little need._ : He touched at Air Raid’s spark again. : _I think you should try something else first though._ :

Air Raid shivered again, tendrils reaching out for Sideswipe’s hand. : _Yeah?_ : His own hands drifted down from Sideswipe’s face, down his neck and onto the open chestplates, framing either side of his spark.

: _I think you should try and scare the Sunbot,_ : the frontliner replied, gleefully. : _’Flight did it to me, so fair’s fair._ :

Air Raid’s smirk was wicked and he turned his attention inwards, finding Sideswipe and then his connection to Sunstreaker. It was a quiet, almost vague affair but it was enough. : _So, do I still have to call you Sunstreaker now if you’re really a brother?_ :

Sideswipe could feel his twin startle and swear quite colorfully and caught a quick glimpse of Fireflight’s confused face as the block abruptly lifted, and he roared with laughter. He barely registered the reproachful smack he got in return he was laughing too hard, not helped when Sunstreaker accused him (correctly) of telling Air Raid to do that.

: _No_ ,: Sunstreaker eventually came back with, after berating his twin, a touch sullenly, : _Sunny’s fine. Fragger._ :

: _I can make it up to you._ : Air Raid promised. There was a pause and then Air Raid knew Fireflight was enthusiastically showering Sunstreaker in love and affection. There was a vague grumble from Sunstreaker, but he managed to send : _I suppose you’re forgiven_ : before shutting Air Raid out, and Sideswipe snorted as he felt Sunstreaker’s annoyance abate.

“You set Fireflight on him, didn’t you?” he asked out loud.

Air Raid sniggered. “So many options when you have a brother in love.” He tilted his head. “So many options when _you’re_ in love.”

Sideswipe’s grin turned a little more knowing and he raised a hand to trace around Air Raid’s face. “So true. My gorgeous flyer, look at you.” He tipped his lover’s chin up a little. “You make me so happy.”

“You make me complete,” Air Raid replied. There was a swell of emotion again. “You fill in bits I didn’t know were empty and match up to me so well.” He smirked. “You fill up things I definitely know are empty too.”

“You feeling a little left out?” Sideswipe practically cooed, crowding Air Raid backwards. “A little bereft? Missing something?”

Air Raid went willingly, digits digging into the open chestplates above him to drag Sideswipe down with him. “I’m always missing you when you’re not inside me. It’s where you belong, always. Like I belong in your berth.”

“Oh but you do. You belong where I can reach you and use you and love you.” Sideswipe leaned down to kiss Air Raid, slow and deep. : _Gorgeous_.:

Air Raid wrapped one arm around Sideswipe’s neck, kissing him back with everything he had but not pushing Sideswipe for anything more. He hooked his heels over the back of Sideswipe’s legs. : _Love you_.:

Sideswipe shifted a little and put his weight back on both hands. : _Love you. My beautiful flyer. My bonded._ : Without warning he slid himself right back into Air Raid’s body, still wet and slick and messy from before. : _My whore_.:

Breaking the kiss, Air Raid tipped his head back with a cry. Their new bond flared with pleasure at the feel of Sideswipe filling Air Raid’s valve which intensified at Sideswipe’s words, showing how much the flyer got off on being called names that most would find degrading. “Yours.” : _Yours, you make me feel so good_.:

: _You really do like that,_ : Sideswipe mused, laying short and chaste kisses across Air Raid’s shoulders and chest. : _You love it. Love me telling you what you are, a slut for my spike and my pleasure._ : He started moving his hips, slow and deep at first, building up his charge.

Air Raid shuddered under him, nodding desperately. : _Want to make you feel good, made for it, for you._ : He clenched down around Sideswipe. : _Always need this, want to feel your spike in my valve, even when I’m empty._ :

Sideswipe hummed happily low in his throat and began to gradually quicken the snap of his hips, turning his attention to the still-exposed spark underneath him. He knew it wouldn’t last long, both their sparks needed rest from the amount of energy bonding like that consumed, but it should be enough. He coaxed it out from its shell - not that he had to try very hard - and his own spark absorbed it easily in their second ever merge. He was suddenly aware of the background sensation of a spike in his valve, realizing pretty quickly that it was all projecting from Air Raid, and he moaned. The merge was making everything just that little bit more intense and he could feel the charge building rapidly now through his body.

Air Raid cried out, body arching towards Sideswipe. Just the feeling of being taken would have been enough for the flyer to overload but now he could feel how it felt to be the spike doing the taking as well and lost all control. On top of that was Sideswipe’s emotions and sensations which had gone from already being intense through the bond to overwhelming. There wasn’t much energy left in him after three overloads and the bonding but he desperately wanted to stay online to feel Sideswipe overload as well. “I… I… Sides… I can’t…”

“Primus-” Sideswipe could feel how close Air Raid was to overload, forcing it back only through sheer will, and he drove himself faster and deeper. It was the phantom sensations from Air Raid that were really his undoing. He could have lasted longer had they not been merged, but in combination with the vague exhaustion from bonding, the feeling of Air Raid’s valve clenching around him and his own pleasure rocketing through him, his overload wasn’t long in coming. It washed over him a moment later, crackling through his frame and making him tense up, crying Air Raid’s name both to the room and through the bond even as he emptied himself inside the Aerial’s valve. He could feel their sparks vibrating with the excessive energy and his cry tapered off into a deep moan. : _So good, so gorgeous_.:

The instant Sideswipe’s overload hit Air Raid followed suit, unable to fight the wash of pleasure, energy and transfluid. His cry was loud, echoing in their bond and would have fallen straight offline had they not been merged. With Sideswipe’s excess burning into him, Air Raid couldn’t let go and clung to him, sobbing desperately, completely unsure what to do. : _Please, please, please._ :

Sideswipe automatically began to soothe his lover both physically and through the bond as the energy started to fizzle out and he could start the separation of their sparks. It was a quick detachment, both of them needing a good rest before they could try that again, but with their bond securely in place Sideswipe didn’t all that much care how long it took to recover. Air Raid was his and his forever, and that was worth anything. He carefully pulled out of Air Raid’s body and made his way over to their washroom, coming back a moment later with a damp cloth to clean the both of them up with. : _Love you, my beautiful flyer,_ : he pulsed at Air Raid gently.

Air Raid was so tired but felt the loss when Sideswipe left the berth and reached for him as soon as he was back, tugging at him when he was done to lie back down again. He wrapped his arms around Sideswipe, chestplates finally closing up, followed by his interface panel, and snuggled into him. : _Love you. Love you._ :

: _Recharge, babe,_ : Sideswipe told him lovingly, : _I’ll be here. Always._ :

There was a pulse of love and comforting knowledge that Air Raid knew and would always know now as he let himself drift into recharge. Closing his own chestplates the frontliner watched Air Raid for a long moment with dimmed optics, basking in the new presence in his spark irrevocably tied to him.

Sideswipe couldn’t imagine not being bonded. It was so incredibly freeing to know that there was someone who would always be there, who understood what you needed, wanted or had to a purely instinctive degree, someone who knew you and accepted you on every level possible. Now he had two mechs who loved him with every atom of their being and knew they were loved just as fiercely in return, and for the first time in his life he was well and truly, honestly, happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this is the end of the second ride! I hope you've all enjoyed it and here's to all the crack ships!


End file.
